I can assure you!

On another occasion I re- ceived a cablegram inviting me to Amsterdam for the weekend! I thought that might be going a bit too far overboard, but my wife, with incredible generosity, said, "Go, you'll never have another invitation like that for a long time." So I went. I flew to Amsterdam and went to the Schipol Hilton, as instructed, and found found another another telegram instructing me to go to the Hotel American and rest for a few hours before phoning for further instructions (the group loves to construct treasure hunts and scavenger hunt type games). When I phoned I was told to change to Fiona and then take the train to a certain station where I would be met by a car. With some trepidation, not being sure of the Dutch attitude towards crossdressing, I switched to Fiona and tottered out of the hotel, boggling the desk clerk as I had checked in as a male and now I was checking out as a female. Then it was on to the train, including one change of trains at at Utrecht to the station specified. There I was met by a white Merce- des driven by an Arab who re- mained silent and drove at high speed through the night dikes and down country lanes until he reached a point where he stopped and pointed to a light in the woods. Since I was clearly meant to go on foot from there, I set off (it was January and the ground was frozen hard) until I reached a lan- tern, which was set down in a clearing and guarded by a monk (who turned out to be the same who had taken the person monk's part in the earlier ad- venture in the harbour). He grabbed me by the wrist (again without a word being spoken) and dragged me through the woods to a castle, WITH a moat, and the traditional single light burning in the attic! We crossed the moat in a dinghy. The monk battered at a pos-

over

tern gate before vanishing. My hostess (ex-Guinevere) opened the door and said, "Why, Fiona, how NICE of you to come!" as if I had not been organized from one side of the world to the other. There were two of us who had been brought from Australia. Two others had been brought from Ireland and with the host and hostess we had the best time for a whole weekend that I had ever had.

The servants who usually run the castle, had been sent to London for the weekend

was

we had the whole castle to our- selves. On the first day I was allowed to be the castle maid, in a skimpy black dress and skimpy patent heels but after a day of running up and down four flights of stairs I was glad to revert to my real persona as Lady Fiona and allow my host to take over the maid role. One of the Irish visitors an attractive crossdresser who, for the purpose of the aristocratic weekend, became a Countess, and my hostess spent the weekend in a gorgeous gown (actually, she changed into many such gowns over the weekend) as Baroness of **** Castle. The other guests played various parts, as butlers, Barons and guests. I was even taken into Amsterdam on Satur- day afternoon for tea while the others shopped. My companion for this exercise was a most talented comic actor who could improvise hilariously as a Butler, but preferred a clerical collar as a vicar. We visited all over the city of city of Amsterdam We visited the Rijkmuseum and viewed the marvelous Vermeers and the famous Night Watch. It was a magic weekend, and, flying home as my mate self (after another switch in a hotel as I was NOT allowed to be anyone but Fiona at the castle) I could hardly believe that I had been away from home for five days halfway around the world to a country I had never before visited and spent two days

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in almost non-stop hilarity and masquerade.

Soon after this event I went on study leave to the United States and spent as much time as possible visiting my friends from earlier days in the U.S. and Canada. I was taken to some very questionable night clubs in NYC but two of my most memorable and exciting times came when I was on the west coast on the final run home. In Seattle I again saw dear friends from my Oregon days and stayed with a couple who took me out as Fiona in their luxurious cabin cruiser on Puget Sound. Then I visited Virginia in Los Angeles and she char- mingly invited me to stay. While with her I went to a Tri-Ess meeting and was made to feel very welcome. I was chatting to a tall, pleasant sister who had brought his lovely daughter with him to the meeting, and, in pass- ing I mentioned that it had been a long-standing dream of mine to go to Disneyland as Fiona. "We're going tomorrow," said my new friend. "Why not come with us?"

Of course I was delighted to do so and that day will al- ways remain as one of the golden memories for me.

We went as a family, with my crossdressing friend in his male role and me as MOM - with the eleven year old daughter delighted to have a mother once again. This made me feel incredibly maternal and loving towards her. Having three daugh- ters of my own, I am inclined to feel affectionate to little girls and this one was so unaf- fected and warm, that nobody could have resisted her. We all had a wonderful time and I know that I can never go to Disneyland again (or see pictures of it) without getting a warm glow. I rode terrifying roller- coaster-type rides in the dark- ness because my "daughter" asked me. We We stood in lines for hours, waiting to ride the submarine or go through the