RANSVESTIA

cheek. All Roy did was to give me a little shrug and to stand there helplessly, not contradicting Earl at all. Valerie's hand slipped out of mine and Earl broke away from me to help her sit down. She was visibly shaken by Earl's words and her pink-tipped fingers were twisting and untwisting one of the napkins. Luckily, Earl was too in- sensitive to have noticed. He was going on about how great a salesman Roy was and the high sales to visits ratio he had, the highest in the company, and Roy started in, too, about how he did it. I couldn't have got a word in without shouting one of them down. Then Earl turned off and pulled Valerie onto the dance floor. The bright smile had already returned to her face and she looked most delighted to be in Earl's arms as he hugged her tightly in a waltz.

Leaving the club, Earl gave Roy the keys to his car and made some fatuous remark about us having had the use of the back seat on the way to the club and now it was their turn. That was something I hadn't expected. Nor had I expected the enthusiastic way the two of them began to neck in the back seat while Roy and I sat in the front for the drive home, exchanging small talk.

Earl was all set to stay at our place, and so was Roy. By the way Valerie was clinging to Earl, she seemed ready for that, too. Her pink lipstick was quite smudged and her face was flushed. I put my foot down, though, and insisted that both Valerie and I needed our beauty sleep. Roy whispered something about Valerie being old enough to do what she like and I whispered back a promise to make it up to him on the next day or so. Earl regretfully broke away from Valerie and our sofa, where they'd said a very romantic good-night. I guess I puzzled him a little by my insistence that he go. "Good-night, Ma," he said with a laugh to me as Roy let him out, and, turning, he blew a kiss to Valerie.

I wanted to talk to Valerie about what Earl had said, but she was already stripping off to her slip and bra as soon as the door closed. She went tripping off to her bedroom with a bright smile to me. "Thanks for arranging for such a nice night for us," she said huskily, as she took off her heels. "I really enjoyed myself." Then she slipped off her bra, her ample breasts showing firm, full and female. I was left gasping as she softly closed her door and, I guess, went off to bed.

Roy was back for me at our place by noon the next day, though Valerie hadn't yet put in an appearance. I got to him immediately.

-15-