All this time, I also had the parallel growth of normal male interests. I built flying model airplanes, I learned to become a reasonably good marksman under the loving tutorship of my father, and I learned to be- come a very proficient camper, who had cultivated the art of survival. I also advanced thru the rank of second class in the Boy Scouts, my sporadic activity in the troop preventing me from going any higher. By age 13 I had taken a job, for a couple hours a night, washing dishes for a small cafe.

My sister moved out; my father took a new wife, and my stepmother was close enough to my size to unknowingly keep me in clothes until age 16.

It was at this time that I elected to take an optional Phys. Ed. course in weight training which filled out my 125 lb. skin-and-bone body to a firm mightweight 145. After that I could only wear the knitted garments in my mother's wardrobe.

During my Junior year I purchased my first car, and the necessity for repairs begat a passion for machinery that has only grown from that time onward. Now, I am operating a side business in auto repair and have studied and worked extensively in racing applications.

I spent one year in college before the Selective Service drew my number. During this time I allowed myself the luxury of carelessness, which brought to my parents' attention some self-photos of me while "dressed." Fortunately, they just treated it as a one-time experiment, and let it be dropped.

Armed forces service naturally drove my femme-self underground except during leaves. At times this began a definite strain as I had long been used to "going out" dressed.

I was 14 the first time. The folks had left for the evening and I could count on freedom until 11 p.m. or so. I dressed, found a scarf and made my way cautiously out the side door. Old trees heavy with foliage, re- stricted illumination to the street corners, so that even when an auto passed me, as I walked to the end of the block and back, I wasn't re- garded with undue notice. Opportunities in later months took me two and three blocks away from home. But this was the farthest I went for we moved into a busier neighborhood a year later. Nevertheless the joy was indescribable, strolling in the evening with my feet on heels and my body gently confined by my feminine garments. Feeling as a woman was to feel beautiful, something I couldn't find as a male, but needed nonetheless.

67