RANSVESTIA

He found it was not difficult to dance, as a girl, because following the steps of a partner was very easy. I could not say the same thing for me, because I had trouble making my partner move on the floor.

Finally I invited him to dance with me. It was even harder for me to lead then. It took a couple dances before I got used to it. But, at the end of the evening, I was good enough at it to make jokes while danc- ing. Once, I held him tight in my arms, the way he does me sometimes. He did not protest and seemed to like it. One girl said to him that a well-born girl should never let a boy hold her so tight while dancing. He replied that he loved it and did not care if he was well-born or not. We all laughed at it.

On the night of the ball, he came to my place to take me to the dance hall. He already had his costume on. As I was not ready yet, he went to the living room with my mother. While they were chatting, my father entered the house and saw my mother with the Spanish dancer. He walk- ed to the kitchen, where I was, and asked me who was that nice-looking girl. I said she was one of my girl friends attending the ball with me. As I was ready to leave I kissed him good night and I joined my mother and my boy friend in the living room. I kissed my mother and told her to watch her husband who seemed too much interested in Spanish wo- men. She started to laugh and said: "have fun, girls."

Our dance was a success as usual. We won the first prize for our dis- guises. Harry enjoyed his evening very much and said he did not regret having accepted my idea of becoming a girl for a night. He admitted that we, girls, had it over men, wherever clothers were concerned. A dress was much cooler, during summer, than pants. He said, he could, after that, understand why girls liked so much to wear light clothes and asked himself why men could not do the same.

PROBLEMS OF AN AGING FP (with apologies to Edmund Wilson)

The wretched old physique decays One smoulders in a slump for days... One dresses and then sadly sees The wrinkled face...the bony knees And yet the effort will be made The need for beauty and finesse obeyed.

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