Transvestia

them. The man was a shrewd salesman and brought out large trays of earrings for Jim to see. A large notice on the counter advertising Ear-Piercing took Jim's eye and on the spur of the moment he asked if he could have his done. The man expressed no sur- prise and said, "Yes." immediately. While the jewel- er was preparing to carry out the small operation, Jim asked why he was not surprised at his request. He told Jim that he had pierced the ears of several young men in the last few days and in fact all of them had asked for double piercing, they had wanted two holes put in their lobes about a quarter of an inch apart, the idea was that it would enable them to wear much heavier and longer earrings without any danger of the lobe tearing. He even showed Jim some of the earrings they had ordered. Straightaway Jim asked if he could have his done in the same way and twenty minutes later he walked out of the shop with his ears tingling and two tiny plastic sleeper plugs in the holes the jeweler had put in each lobe. He had also ordered and paid for two pairs of long, elaborate chandelier type earrings. At the flat he peered in the mirror and was dismayed to find the sleeper plugs were much more noticeable than he had hoped, already he was regretting his impulsive act- ion. Next morning at the office he felt rather self concious but no one seemed to notice, at least no comment was made and he got on with his work. After about half an hour he was told the boss wanted to see him and as soon as Jim opened his office door he was subjected to a torrent of abuse. The boss said the chief clerk had told him about Jim's ears and he wanted to know if Jim intended to start wearing ear- rings in the office. It had also been noticed that Jim's eyebrows had been plucked and that on several occasions lingering traces of perfume had been detec- ted in his office. His boss insisted Jim was a homo- sexual and stated that such behaviour would not be tolerated in his firm. Jim's protests were ignored and finally after a stormy ten minutes he was given a check for one month's salary in lieu of notice and twenty minutes to remove himself and all his personal

(25