RANSVESTIA

Do not shut off power when elevators are between floors.

"Sorry about that," Harry said out loud to himself. The big man was trapped between floors two and three. And considering the burglar's size Harry did not expect him to crawl through the escape hatch in the top of the elevator car.

It was a moment of victory. He felt the tenseness he had been experi- encing for the past hour or so dissipate. He felt as though he had been reprieved from an order of execution. He leaned back against the wall of the control booth and gave his thanks and Harriet's as well. His emotions were aglow with a feeling of having met the test. Harriet had been spared. Harry had been preserved. It reminded him of the time his brakes had failed on a mountain grade. How close he had come that night to the brink also.

Harriet's wristwatch told him it was nearly 3:00 a.m. A great deal remained to be accomplished if he was to wind this affair up success- fully. It took him a few minutes to mentally organize himself. Bits and pieces of Harriet were scattered all over the store. The shoes and wig and other items he had discarded would have to be collected and returned to their proper locations. The three intruders were secure enough for the time being but he could not depend on that until they were safely in the hands of the police. Before calling the police, however, he would have to straighten out Harriet's affairs. On the way to the fourth floor beauty salon he checked out the elevator. It was definitely stopped between floors and he could hear muffled banging and other sounds emanating from the shaft. The big man was pounding on the walls and shouting something he could not hear well enough to under- stand.

In the beauty salon dressing room he stood before the triple mirror and was greeted by a wigless, shoeless, rather bedraggled Harriet. Harry had to smile at her incongrous appearance. Looking at his legs Harry noticed that the cantrece panty hose had snagged and were badly ripped. "Damn," he said to himself out loud, “this was a new pair."

Little did Harry realize as he showered and changed back into his nightwatchman's uniform that the day of excitement had just begun. The encounter with the burglars had started it all of course. Harry called the police to the store about 3:45 a.m. By 7:00 a.m. he was still