Transvestia

You can't talk with Mr. Moore, honey, he left for his vacation last Friday and won't be back for two weeks." Jane looked impat- iently down to her work as if to begin typing.

Anne reddened again. The interview ended almost before it had begun. If she couldn't get a job here, then where? "Would you please tell Mr. Moore I called when he returns?"

"We'll keep your card on file," Jane said without looking up and continued to organize her typing.

Anne Hughes retrieved her coat and left.

The first job was never an easy one, she reasoned on the eleva- tor down. She should know--how many first timers had come to her for work. Something about them all; they're all brand, shiny new but the easy assurance of experience is always missing. A trained interviewer could always tell one from the other; naturally they preferred experience. Only when she had been desparate, Anne remembered, had she ever employed a first timer.

If only she'd known how tough it was for the first time secre- taries--if she'd known she had to pass the test herself. But how should she have known; things were different then. Quite differ- ent then. Quite different, she thought, as the elevator door open- ed at the bottom. Stepping out, Anne headed into the ground lev- el coffee shop where at this hour a girl could get some coffee and think without being crowded by the lunch time jostle.

The counter boy handed her the menue with obvious pleasure. Lost in thought, though, Anne merely asked for coffee. Dropping in a sacharine it occurred to her that that might be the problem. Perhaps, she thought, her affect upon the "cup" in an office just wasn't appreciated by the other women. Yet she had tried to tone it down--she just couldn't seem to hide her natural beauty. Wheth- er she liked it or not, she was noticed wherever she went; maybe that was the problem. Anne thought what a wicked pleasure it had been to see the looks of the women upstairs when she stop- ped their boss. Again she savored the delight of it--though vamp- ing the boss had certainly cost her the job if there was one.

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