RANSVESTIA

The last customer was an elderly woman who apparently was per- sonally acquainted with Miss Bell and she stayed on long afte her purchase to chitchat with the owner who had appeared at the rear of the store. In the meantime I made it through several racks of a.esses and had about four picked out already as definite possibilities. As Miss Bell's tete-a-tete dragged on the first sales lady rejoined me bringing her colleague with her. Using my femme name, Sharon Anne, in- troductions were made and we talked in a corner in low tones so as not to disturb the other conversation. Actually this shop has a very large sales area and we were at least thirty to forty feet from the other women. The two sales ladies whom I will call' Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Smith were overflowing with curiosity about me and were asking a lot of questions. They were very complimentary about my appearance and flattery or not, hearing all this did a lot for my confidence, not to mention the old ego. Mrs. Brown explained that she usually did not work on Friday evening but after hearing about me had decided to stay on and help out if she could. She hoped I did not mind. Well, what could I say? The more the merrier.

When Miss Bell and her customer parted and the doors were lock- ed the real fun began. Miss Bell was also very friendly and complimen- tary but remained appropriately business-like. "What did you have in mind now?" she queried, getting my fashion show on the road.

"I want something for evening," I declared.

We moved toward the rear of the shop and left the lights on there while those in the front were extinguished. A small empty dress rack on rollers was produced and Mrs. Brown and Mrs. Smith began collecting all the size 14's in the store on it. Miss Bell demonstrated for me, reciting the merits of each number. I made them all aware that I must have long sleeves (because of unshavable hair on my arms) to consider any dress seriously. Even so, it appeared I would have nearly two dozen creations to choose from. I had an impulse to try them all on but, of course, there wasn't time. After much agonizing and listening to my three mentors' varied, but well intentioned opinions, I narrowed it down to two long hostess gowns. One of them was quite informal and the other was a very dressy formal number with a price tag to match. I was helped and zipped in turn into both of these and led to the triple mirrors where I turned and posed to my heart's content. Interestingly, my three helpers had begun to refer to me between themselves in the feminine gender. While in the try-on room with Mrs. Brown I overheard Mrs. Smith remark to Miss Bell, "She looked lovely in that white." Nothing could have pleased me more.

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