RANSVESTIA
giving reports to the detectives, describing his maneuvers against the burglars. He had to chuckle to himself several times for they seemed to ask every conceivable question except how were you dressed? And, of course, there was no reason for the police or anyone else to suspect a thing on that score. Somehow he believed his secret was safe even though his grappling with cowboy boots had brought him into close contact with the man.
Harry took the detectives through the store showing them exactly what had happened. The police had nothing but compliments and admiration for what he had done. The burglars were carted off about 5:00 a.m. At 8:00 a.m. a company vice president came down and per- sonally thanked Harry and arranged for him to be relieved early. He called Martha and talked with her for half an hour telling her the news. A breakfast was brought in for him. An emergency work crew came in to repair the broken skylight and clean up some of the damage the burglars had caused. A maintenance man from the alarm system com- pany came in to put the system back in working order. Harry had been correct in his speculation that the lightning had shorted out the alarms. At 10:00 a.m. one of the regular weekday nightwatchmen came in to relieve Harry. The company vice president, a Mr. Winstead, told Harry to report back to the store on Monday morning. Mr. Winstead said he should wear a suit. The company public relations staff would hold a news conference for him.
But the story had already reached the news media. When he arrived home that afternoon there were several reporters and a mobile television unit waiting for him. It was all a little overwhelming. For the remainder of the day he related his story over and over again.
The press conference at the store Monday morning turned out to be anti-climactic. The Monday morning papers already had the full story. "Thayer Watchman Foils Three" read one headline. It was bottom frontpage material and Harry's picture was on the inside pages. The publicity was nice but under the circumstances it made Harry a little nervous. After the news conference he was taken into see the store manager and several other officials. They presented him with a five hundred dollar bonus check and informed him that he would receive a raise in salary as well. Then he had lunch at a fancy restaurant with the big brass.
When they returned to the store after lunch Harry was shown into Mr. Gregory's office. The supervisor was just as Fred Schulman had
34