RANSVESTIA

"I should go up there on six and check but I'm not going to." Fred had his raincoat on and was ready to leave.

“Well, I'll check the roof on my first round," Harry told him. “Any messages from Gregory?"

"Yeah, I almost orgot. There's a message for you on the desk. Some skylight is broken up on six. We're going to fix it Monday."

Harry locked the steel outside door when Fred was gone and returned to the desk to find Gregory's note. Mr. Gregory was the head of Thayer & Company's maintenance and security staffs. He worked weekdays and always regular hours so Harry never saw him but he frequently got messages from the man telling him to watch or check various things around the building. From what Fred told him Gregory was a regular worrywart. The note Fred had mentioned said there was a cracked window in the skylights on six. Gregory wanted him to make a special check on it.

Harry's first tour of the building would start at 7:00 p.m. and end at 8:30 p.m. Then about 9:00 p.m. he would let the crew of janitors and cleaning personnel out at the Fourth Avenue entrance. After that he was to be alone in the darkened, deserted building until 6:30 a.m. the following morning. Harry had been the nightwatchman at Thayer and Company for about a year. It was a good job for a retired man if you didn't mind working nights and weekends. Harry didn't mind and, in fact, preferred the arrangement. The reason for Harry's agreeableness was a rather unusual one. Being the nightwatchman at Thayer Company afforded Harry a unique opportunity to practice a secret avocation he had pursued for some forty years unknown to anyone including his family. It wasn't anything he was particularly ashamed of mind you, but it was best under the circumstances that no one knew of his great interest in women's clothing and the art of wearing it or of his ability to impersonate women. Not in the least inclined toward homosexuality, Harry was a true transvestite who had practiced the art of female impersonation since childhood. As a long distance truck driver for twenty-five years Harry had found plenty of opportunities to indulge the feminine side of his personality on the road in every corner of the country. Now as a retired teamster on a comfortable but not magnificent pension he supplemented his income and pursued his hobby as well by working the weekend watch at Thayer's.