RANSVESTIA

Darro's influence had produced a job for Roxanne Miller, a stripper, at the Gold Coast, a good club for female impersonators. Not as swank as the Ladybird or Racetrack, with their chorus lines of beautiful "girls" and expensive production numbers, but neither was it as desperate as the Barnyard, Arthur's or Betty's Club, where the per- formers had to mingle with the audience and were known to be homosexual and on hire to members of the audience.

Eddie was dressed in his usual jeans for the first time in over a month when he reported to the Gold Coast for his initial appearance. The queen who looked after the stage door eyed him up and down, noting his shaped brows, pinched in waist, long, shiny fingernails and general effeminate appearance. Accepted as one of that sorority, Ed- die was able to find the communal dressing room without difficulty where the two trunks labelled "Roxanne Miller" were waiting for him. The Gold Coast boasted one of the best equipped dressing rooms for its performers. In this level there were no star performers, so that separate dressing rooms were unnecessary. The Gold Coast, however, boasted six separate mirrors and make-up tables. In addition to this, each per- former had a long cupboard-like walk-in wardrobe to place their costumes on hangers with ample space for trunks or cases containing other items of apparel. There were three other impersonators in the room when Eddie walked in. A tall blonde, in black bra, panties, garter belt, stockings and high heels walked over to him.

"Hi," she said in a twangy, high-pitched voice. She cocked her head to one side so that her backcombed hair swayed a little over her shoulder. "You're new, so you must be Roxanne."

Eddie had to look up to the brown, friendly eyes, garishly made-up with green, brown and black. With a start, he realized that this was a man, just like himself, with his stage make-up on. "Yes," said Eddie, trying to speak as normally as possible, "that's my s' ge name, but I'm usually called

The blonde quickly raised her hand. She looked back at the other two who were wiggling into identical tight fitting black evening dresses. "No need," she said, turning slightly, revealing to Eddie's in- credulous gaze that her statuesque breasts were, in fact, the real thing. "We always use stage names here. I'm Kiki, and that's Diane and Deir- dre down below." She looked critically at Eddie's jeans, but said nothing.

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