Transvestia

long page boy, all made up and dressed, I could hardly believe it was me.

a

The escape was actually easy. We simply waited until it was about time to load the first bus, and then carrying an overnight bag which we had made out of some duffle bags, we were carefully lowered to the floor of the closet, adjusted our clothes, and walked out to join the group of women boarding the bus. Nobody gave us a second glance and as we passed the guards they smi- led and waved to us. Now our problem was to pass as woman among women, and this would be no easy task although both Georgia and I spoke good German. Each of us had separated as we entered the bus, on the assump- tion that one out of place person might not attract att- ention but two would. We really didn't know how good our disguise was, and how effectively we had thrown ourselves into our part. My seat companion was a girl about the same age as I was, and after looking me over briefly commented that she had not seen me here before. I told her the story that George and I had concocted be- fore. My aunt, and I indicated Georgia, had recently had her home bombed in Bavaria (since both of us had a slight Bavarian accent in our speech), and having lost everything had decided to start over in the north of Ger- many where my brother had been stationed. In fact he had recently been transferred to a camp near the prison camp and we had just visited him before he was shipped off to the front. We were now going to Hamburg to try to start over again. I also told my seat companion that all we had left was the clothes on our back, the money we carried, and our determination to succeed. She lis- tened sympathetically and again looking me fully said that I should not have too much difficulty in finding an apartment since Hamburg too had been bom- bed but that we were welcome to stay at the boarding house where she lived. She also indicated that she worked in a small grocery store in Hamburg and that the store next door, a women's clothing store, needed a clerk.

When we arrived in Hamburg she (Hilda) took us to a rooming house for women only and Georgia and I took a room together. Most of the girls in the house were rather young, and the landlady asked Georgia after only

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