Transvestia

Mrs. Lewis with Mr. Pankratz of Property Management. His personal goals were small, the salary small, the satisfactions small. That is precisely why he felt small

and insignificant.

Now, at the age of 47, the small worm of dissatis- faction was gnawing at his slight frame. Life had become a repetitious pattern of things done out of habit. It was easier that way. If the monotonous routine at the bank was stifling, the long, dull evenings at home were even more lifeless and colorless. Ellen, once vivacious and pretty, had become respectably matronly", endlessly immersed in P.T. A., and an indefatiguable 'junior' of almost every community-betterment or fund-raising cam- paign. They found very little to say to each other, for the depressing sameness of their lives had long ago ex- hausted all possible topics of conversation.

On the few rare occasions when Henry and Ellen did have a social evening, it was invariably to the Crescent Lake Country Club for cocktails, a flavorless dinner, and the artificial congeniality of chatting with other members. The torpor of their lives was not noticeably altered by the weekly bridge game at one of their friend's homes. Neither Henry nor Ellen particularly cared for bridge, but continued to play because "it was the thing to do." Both privately considered most of their friends insuffer- able boors. Though Ellen was happy to putter about in the garden; of hobbies, Henry had none-- unless one could call reading the Financial World a hobby. Sports, and the more masculine pursuits of hunting and fishing did not interest him. With his field of interests so narrow, it was little wonder that he felt he was missing 'some- thing'.

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Even the Detweiler children, Roger and Jennifer, who were so cute and interesting when they were small, had not brought joy to Henry in later years. Son Roger was now in a distant college- "irresponsibly spending his way through" Henry thought "If the rate of requests for an advance on his allowance was any criteria. Jennifer, once the 'apple of his eye' was also a disappointment. Last year she left the family home to establish herself in the 'legitimate' theater, but thus far had not yet landed a "starring" role. Nor was there reason to expect

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