RANSVESTIA

notice that this dress fits over your bust line and then hangs free. You'll have to bring your waist in more before we can really give you nice form-fitting dresses to wear. And, in the meantime, you have to learn how to handle skirts. These will help you over the initial rough spots."

She handed me a pair of bloomers, lace-trimmed around the leg openings, made of the same fabric as the dress. I pulled them up my silken-clad legs and fitted them up around my waist, tucking the elastic up higher around my thighs, so that they puffed out nicely under my skirt. They looked adorable, so sweet and girlish with the lace showing when I sat down or turned suddenly so that my dress flared out.

Lois had apparently moved a vanity into my room, and Janet led me to it and had me sit down on the little stool. It was an old- fashioned one with mirrors, but the side mirrors had been folded in to hide the center mirror, and I couldn't see my reflection. I could see, though, that the top surface was crowded with cosmetic bottles and jars.

Deftly, Janet started to work on my hair, combing it carefully, still a little damp from my bath, parting it in the middle and shaping a soft wave over each eyebrow. She pinned my side hair back of my head and behind my ears with a large barrette and then brushed the rest of it down to my shoulders, trying to sweep a small curl at the ends.

"That'll do for right now," she said. "Later, we'll give you a per- manent after we cut it and train it into a lovely style that will hold up well while you're dancing." She swung me around on my stool. "And now your face."

She explained each step as she applied the cosmetics, and I knew that I was expected to learn the procedures so that I could make myself up, and I tried to listen, but I was distracted by my body sen- sations my hose smooth against my shaven legs, the clasp of elastic around my thighs from the bloomers, the cool cling of my slip, and the pressure from my brassiere. I loved it, as well as quiver- ing from curiosity about how I looked.

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