reverted to an English, working class accent, though he hadn't seen London since he was a child

Marty flushed and glanced at David Rennick beside him. Ren- nick immediately looked away, not daring to look into his friend's feminized face.

-

"You'll have to, you know," said Marty in a low voice. "She won't pay you if you don't and you won't be able to do any- thing about it.”

"Oo! Listen to'er!" Ace made a limpwristed gesture at Marty. His voice was highpitched, but there was a touch of hysteria in it.

"Knock it off, Ace," said David quietly. Beside him, Marty had opened up a makeup kit and was beginning to work on his eyes.

Ace seemed about to make a furious reply, but Nadine came suddenly bursting back into the tense, crowded dressing-room. "Ace." she said conversationally as if nothing else was going on. "I need you as a man tonight to make five pairs. Your costumes are in the other room. So, you can go there to dress.

""

Ace stood and gave the other guys a look of scorn. “See you, girlies," he said softly as he went out, bowing and leering, after Nadine.

·

·

""

"Damn it! I'm Farrell stood and hurled a large jar of cold cream against the door. It shattered and cream spread out in a great starburst before trick- ling down the wood in greasy rivulets.

"You can't do anything, can you?" Marty was touching up his eyeshadow. Then he stood, un- did the zip at his waist and took off his pleated skirt. Beneath was the lower half of a white slip,

gathered at the hem into little. embroidered flowers. Marty be- gan to undo his blouse. "I feel sorry for you all. But dressing as a woman isn't all that bad, really. In fact, it can even be lovely, if you're a transvestite like me." He nodded as he took off his blouse, showing the upper part of the slip and the bra straps beneath. He flicked his long hair behind his earrings. "You'll be able to stand it for a few performances, until the novelty wears off.” "And what will Nadine have for us then?" asked David fear- fully.

**

**

Cindy Brenner felt very silly in the top hat and dark trousers that David normally wore. It was lucky that the boys and girls in the troupe were so close in height and weight. But, the suit jacket was still a size too large, and besides, this idea of Nadine's was outrageous. She wouldn't blame the boys at all for not go- ing along with it. She looked about at the others. Only Sally looked uncomfortable while Ace was positively beaming.

Cindy heard the rustling of the evening dresses before she saw the 'girls' enter the stage. She heard Ace's guffaw, too, which didn't help any of them not even the super-cool Rosalie, peer- ing out past the props, her top hat at a rakish angle. Marty was the first one to come into Cindy's view. In the long black wig and the black evening dress, he looked just like he had in his previous performance as ‘Jackie'.

A blonde followed Marty, so much like Jean Harlow in her white, sequinned gown that Cindy's breath was taken away. It was only when the blonde turned in profile and went blush-

ingly to line up with Ace Deman- ski that Cindy realized that 'she' was Babe Corbin. He looked so real, even in the sexy way that he walked on his white, high heels, that Cindy was intrigued.

The brown-haired girl in the dark blue evening gown tight all the way below her knees, save for the flared little skirt just above her ankles, wore Cindy's dress in a nervous kind of way. She was forced to take small steps by the skirt but she moved most woodenly. "David?" asked Cindy breathlessly. The brunette was very thickly made up, her heavy earrings and thick hair giving her an exotic appearance.

"If you laugh, I'll kill you!" David Rennick muttered from lips heavily painted with scarlet. Apart from the shake of the jelly-filled bra at his chest, his panties and tights were giving him a very odd feeling inside the soft but clinging dress.

"No," said Cindy, shaking her head. "You look all right."

But that made David feel

even worse.

Nadine had already announced her 'surprise' to the audience so that the burst of applause that erupted as the curtain went up was a shock to the performers. They didn't really recover from their first wooden number but the audience didn't seem to care. The 'Can-Can', with the boys showing their frilly panties, black garters and petticoats along with many high kicks, wasn't really up to the standard of the girls, but they received much more ap- plause than the girls had ever re- ceived.

Nadine had the boys remove their wigs at the end of the ses- sion so that they could feel pro- perly foolish standing before the

- 10 -