stand for no equivocation. Timidly, I ventured:

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"But Connie dear, why why does it have to be for the rest of my life? Couldn't I do it for just a little while and then we

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"If there is any possible way to get you back into a man's role later on, we can do so, but it has to be a fool proof way in which there is no element of risk or repercussions. I cannot possibly see how this will ever occur and that is why I say that if you decide to stay with me as a girl, it will have to be for all time. just have to figure on the way things look now."

"Oh II " I heaved a deep, painful sigh. "All right, I just have to do it.

"All right", she said calmly.

It seems the only way".

We

"But don't forget what I am risking for you, for one single instant. Now, the only way I can explain you away without too many questions being asked is as my maid. You can't be a daughter, niece, cousin or sister as this would involve a definite risk. A woman can't just pop up with a new relative nobody knows the existence of but she can hire a new maid easily. Mother has told me that you have had training as a maid so you can fit in. Clothes won't be a problem. Your hair is long enough now to discard a wig and I'll dress it for you as soon as we get home. I'll pay you a salary and we'll get you a social security card, just to play safe. Also, you can get a driver's license and help drive the car. Then, with a social security card, a driver's license and a few other identification cards, all made out to a female, you will have enough identifi- cation to get along. There will be no intimacy between us when any others are present. Now, relax until we get home.

Reaching the house, Constance put me to work immediately. I don't know if it was a desire to humiliate me on her part, but she ordered me to gather up every article of