Transvestia

I would have said not, but mother said, "Yes!" and the next thing, Mrs. R. had scurried off to another closet, bringing back a long dress wrapped in plastic. "She loved this dress so, but she could hardly stand to wear it."

"Why is that?" my mother asked.

"The waist - you see how small it is? Ah, she complained about that, did my Carmel. She was always that fond of a bit of sweets, you know. We had to starve her a bit, and even then, she had to wear a corset to get it on ah, but when she did! Glorianna was furious, because her sister got all the attention. But your chick is so slender. I'm betting he could slip it on like a glove."

―

She was wrong, as ten minutes of argument, followed by a sullen acceptance of the inevitable proved. Glory be, it was still three inches too small! "Ah," said Mrs. Rosalia and my mother together in a chorus of disappointment.

"Ah!" said Mrs. Rosalia in a fit of inspiration.

"Ahh!!!" said yours truly in a fit of pain. (There's three puns there! The fit of pain was caused by Mrs. Rosalia's discovery and appli- cation of the selfsame corset Carmel had worn. And let me tell you, it was painful.) The gown, needless to say, fit very well, after that. And everyone was very impressed. Even me, as the pain in my sides. gradually subsided (which it did, much to my surprise- or else I just got used to it.).

As a result of all of this, I was given not only the petticoats, but the gown (I now had two, neither of which I wanted, nor could use), and the stupid corset. And the latter made Mrs. Rosalia think of some- thing else; her Carmel, apparently a little chubby in the days when girls all had very small waistlines had collected a variety of garments designed to eliminate her large waistline. She was rescued eventually by marriage and the change in fashion that allowed women to be less scrupulous about their waists. Her rescue meant that I was the totally unwilling recipient of a variety of waist-cinchers, longline bras, and even one ugly looking garment built along the lines of the corset I had already been given. But where that garment was made of satin and trimmed with lace, and had a certain charm to it (it was made to be pretty, although that was mostly in the eye of the beholder