RANSVESTIA

"The first thing I want you to do," said Frankie Darro, the instruc- tor arranged for Eddie by Ward and Merrick, "is to shave off all the hair on your body. Shave as close as you can, too. Put on the bathing trunks you find in the bathroom and come back and see me."

Without Eddie actually agreeing, Ward had taken Julie's permis- sion, relayed to him by Lisa, as consent to go ahead and arrange lessons in being a woman for Eddie. Frankie Darro had an apartment in the same building as John Merrick. His grey-white, rinsed hair, shaped eyebrows and mincing walk hardly allayed Eddie's private fears of what he might be subjected to. Darro was likely in his late fif- ties, but by his bright, colorful clothes, stressing edgings in white, he tried to indicate his youthful outlook. He never spoke to Eddie of his assignment. Singlemindedly, he worked at only one task - to make Eddie as feminine as possible. Eddie's all-over sun tan brought a clap of approval from Frankie, who also remarked, "Well, dear, you really do have the legs for it," a remark which made all the hairs on Eddie's body stand on end.

Having arranged for Eddie to move in with Darro, Ward left them completely alone for a week, while Frankie went to work. Frankie kept Eddie almost without clothes for the first three days, teaching him how to wear the special g-strings that were necessary to hid his true sex from view. Frankie also concentrated on combing, setting and re- arranging Eddie's hair. Eddie had always been a "longhair." When he checked a mirror late on the second day of training, he was surprised by the mess of curls, nevertheless, that had been built up on top of his head. For the first time, he saw his face framed with a woman's hairstyle. It was so incongruous, he wanted to quit right away. Frankie quickly turned the mirror over and pushed him away. He let Eddie wear his own clothes in the main while he tried to show him how to dance, move, sing and speak like a woman.

On the evening of that third day, Eddie met female make-up for the first time. The fragrances that filled his nostrils aroused him, but Frankie quickly dampened that by plucking out, most painfully, Eddie thought, almost every hair in his eyebrows. Frankie put false eyelashes, lipstick, eye shadow, liner and mascara on Eddie's face and re- introduced Eddie to the mirror. Eddie could hardly believe the transformation. He actually did look like a woman. Or, at least, he didn't look so manly as he had before. He went to bed thinking that Ward's plan, which he had secretly thought would be abandoned before long, might have a chance.

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