RANSVESTIA

"/

"Oh, mother, tell me what to do. I hope I'm in a trance. The girls got me a blind date for the Christmas dance. Her mother's answer floored her: "It's time you met some men. We'll get a swishy, frou-frou gown from seamstress Agnes Glenn."

"Mother, are you crazy. I can't go out with Earl.

He will quickly fathom that I am not a girl."

"Look in that mirror, Mary Jane, and tell me what you see. There's not a trace of your true sex. You're womanly as can be.

"Of course, you must be cautious but you needn't be a prude. If you're begged for a 'goodnight' kiss, I hope you won't be rude." This counsel from her mother left Mary Jane just furious Until she mulled it over and then she got quite curious.

Mightn't it be thrilling to feel a strong embrace?

And what about a moonlight kiss? Would her pulses race? Soon she had her "coming out" in a gown of blue chiffon.

And this sassy Miss with long blond hair turned the young man "on."

The bachelors started calling. Her phone rang all the day.

In a kindly manner, she turned most of them away.

The few who caught her fancy felt all at once like kings. Dates with little Mary Jane were rare and precious things.

"Mary Jane, my darling, I've loved you from the start. Unless you say you'll be mine, you'll surely break my heart."

"Why, Randolph, I'm so flattered. You're the handsomest boy in town. But I can't take your college ring. I'm too young to settle down."

Now Mary Jane is eighteen. Her life's a social whirl.

She seldom remembers her early years. She thinks now like a girl. What is in her future? Time will make that plain.

And maybe there'll be a second part to the "Ballad of Mary Jane."

49