Ransvestia

stressed the word "real," "and we're shacking up together. It's nice to be the man of the house again occasionally. We're running the Starline Motel." She grimaced. "It's a bit of a dump but it's a good living."

Cissy had come out of the Ladies and was flirting with a busboy who had bumped into her. "You wouldn't think she's still not adjusted, would you?" said Kiki indicating Cissy with her eyes. "Tonight she's likely to be on a three or four hour crying jag just thinking about what's happened to her. I've, er, kind of taken her in," she looked a little nervous, and Eddie began to wonder about Kiki's "real" girl. "I've got her to a psychiatrist, and it seems to help.”

"Are the others still in the business?" Eddie asked thinking that a new expose might be a real story after all.

"Are you kidding?" Kiki smiled. "After the notoriety you gave female impersonators after your articles?"

"They're all out of work?" Eddie queried.

"Well," said Kiki. "It depends what you call work. Karen's taken off with some Mexican, he came to the club a month after you left, looking for you." Her eyes were thoughtful. "You do seem to have an effect on people, don't you? Allison, of course, has given up being a hag. She's a bitch to her husband, though, or so I hear. Audrey's working in a store downtown." She frowned, trying to remember. "A lot are on the streets, the real queer ones like Diane and Deirdre; you can hardly tell them from the real pros. But you know how it is." she said suddenly looking quite tired. "It's all a downhill path."

Eddie shook his head, "No, it isn't," he said.

"Yes, it is," Kiki's voice was stubborn. "Once you're on this train, you're on the express route to nowhere, a dead-end." Bitterness colored her voice. "I'll bet Roxanne is still riding."

Eddie shrugged. "I'm getting married on Saturday," he said, "to a girl who worked in the bank where you saw me today. As for Roxanne," his voice was cool and unhurried, "the train does keep picking up more passengers, it's true, but you have to remember that it stops occasionally." He paused and looked with compassion into Kiki's black-lined eyes. "And Roxanne got off the train a long time ago."