Transvestia

To put me at ease she passed it off by explaining it had been twelve years since she had lost her leg in a car- train accident; gotten a nice settlement and was quite used to crutching. She made an enigmatic statement which I couldn't make any sense of at the time. She stated that life had been good to her and, in some ways, better off now and wouldn't know what to do with two legs under her.

Looking down I noticed she wasn't wearing the black boot but a brown kid oxford, and used only one crutch. A specially re-inforced type called a 'solo', on which she was very adept. The Duchess made, to my mind, a very attractive picture in her red-checked, gingham dress and dark brown hair. All she needed was a tiara- my Duchess.

In the more than two years which I would be privi- ledged to know Mrs. Grace S she would more than once show a deep, intuitive understanding of me and my 'problem'. After a month's acquaintance she would give me a 'big-sister' kiss for 'my kindness' and 'thoughtfulness'. I know she sensed I was in awe of and infatuated with her....and her one, slender, shapely leg. Tho Grace sometimes had me go downtown with her to carry bulky packages she would quite capably carry a heavy shopping bag, move small furniture and wash dishes and laundry, including hanging up. Tho she possessed an expensive, full length artificial limb (named Zelda), which she never wore, she prefered the freedom of single- crutching. "Darn leg was too heavy and cumbersome", she explained. Her lace-up socket peg she sometimes used at home. I was to become more acquainted with this light-weight, all white prothesis.

After a couple months of helping Grace, Chuck got fed up with the novelty of the job and went to work for Palmer's Grocery. I had been going over to her house more often than he because of my strong attraction there. My folks at home never learned of my attachment to Grace and imagined I was 'off somewhere' with Chuck. I was very careful not to disillusion them!

CHAPTER THREE

Twig-green as I was at thirteen I realized that some- thing wasn't quite right in my association with this under-

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