Life With Paula

Paula 30-P-2 FPE

Two can-can girls in flounced skirts, sleek black tights, three-inch heels and half-masks a perfect disguise for a Halloween party. Paula in a rented wig managed the heels with aplomb and was thrilled to find that she passed until we stood up and unmasked. The compliments and comments during the evening were heady, the heels addictive and Paula was off and running.

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It all began in 1928. A son was born to a moderately well-to-do family who owned their own business and as was still common at that time employed a German maid who "lived-in". Like many immigrants, she had brought along a large box which was stored in the attic. One afternoon when I was about five, the neighborhood gang playing in the attic, found it was full of underwear, and we all tried it on as a gag. That was the start of Paula, as the clothes seemed to have more fascination for me than for the others. The only other lead towards her feminine development was that our Mother kept my hair long, though this was definitely out of style for little boys of my age group. The long hair had to be defended, so many fights with the other boys resulted. This was not quite as rough as it might have been, since I went to a private day-school that was attended principally by older girls - but the boys were four to one in our class.

When I was seven, my best friend's sister realized that we both were about the same size as THEIR maid, and induced us to dress up completely at least once, perhaps more. I only remember clearly that everyone thought Paula was a very good-looking girl, but there was no great, compelling desire to repeat it. We did experiment with the German girl's underwear several more times, but I do not recall any particular enjoyment of it. And that was

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