Erik now admitted the prefer- ence for feminine finery. Within the last three weeks, Erik had been dressing exclusively as a woman, when alone. The thought of being "revealed" pro- duced an icy knot of fear. "Well," Erik hedged, stalling for more time...time to think as Brady, now silent, waited for an answer. "Vogue..." Erik, stam- mered.. do you mean, Vogue Magazine wants my feet in a new line of shoes? Waiting for Brady to answer, Erik was aware of a thought hoping this question would deflect Brady from the obvious.

"No", bellowed Brady. “They want the model...they are con- vinced we have come up with a new, fresh beauty. They want to photograph her wearing their new spring collection. They are pushing too...in a rush to get out the announcement before some of the other houses get theirs in print..." Brady burst out, not even pausing for breath. By the time he finished, he was so winded his voice was almost a whisper. Gasping for breath, Brady continued speaking to a shocked Erik, "Dummy," he said gently in an uncharacteristic manner, "they think you are a broad. They want to photograph your bod in their dumb dresses." "What are we gonna tell'em?"

"Well," Erik was still stalling, "what have you told them this far?" Erik was dimly aware of a growing wish that Brady had been caught off guard by Vogue and had committed the agency to producing the pictures. There was a good probability of just this having happened, Erik rea- soned. After all, such was Bradys style of operation. And...the agency had the very best make- up artists, hair stylists and pho-

tographers available. The more Erik thought of the idea, the

more

excitement rose inside.

"I tole'em", the usually brusk Brady stammared, hedging and uncertain..."I'd ah...eh...that is... we'd..."

"You," enterjected Erik, now taking the offensive, "committed us to do it, didn't you?"

There was a long painful pause a silence heavy with meaning, be- fore the now meek sounding Brady spoke again. In a barely audible whisper he spoke: "Yea, ...ole, buddy, ...I ...ah ...did. I didn't even think...all I could

see

was money...and...uh...I tole'em we'd do it...uh...that is ...you'd do it..." Erik left the moment silent. Let him stew a while, Erik thought. Continuing, still stammering, Brady said: "I'm sorry, pal, I guess I'll have to call em back and say our gal is all booked up, that way we'll be out." Brady continued: "Ya know, that's how they did us the last time we asked 'em for a favor." Though Brady was saying this, Erik was fully aware he really meant none of it and did not want to get out of the com- mittment. Erik began to wonder if their small agency dared or could pull off something like that on a big house, especially one that big.

Grasping the advantage, Erik, voice now under control, mind flashing faster than the hammer of Thor, spoke quietly in an al- most soft feminine manor: "Brady, you really would like to do something like that, to pull it off on those folks over at Vogue, wouldn't you?"

Instantly Brady's brashness re- turned and his reply showed it: "Yea, you bet I would! Will ya do it? Will ya? Why, Erik, with that slim build of yours and

- 29 -

those pretty ankles an feet, to say nuttin' of all the make-up and hair talent we have at the studio, we could do it right in our place and they'd never know the difference." Rapid fire, his voice continued: "You could do it, they'd never know" he was being persuasive now, "we could just tell 'em to send over the rags and we'd do the shots, then send everything back” his mind was flying over the possi- bilities, "for more 'n the usual fee, of course,... come on, ole buddy, whaddya say? can't we do it? Sure we can, ole buddy!"

""

The possibilities were ripe, to say the least. As Brady had out- lined it, if the shots were good, they just might be able to pull it off. With everything done in house, if the shots weren't good, they could be destroyed. The idea began to appeal to Erik more and more. So slowly, Erik sure?" con- said: "Brady, are you tinuing before Brady could reply Erik went on: "If it got out in the business I'd been dressing up like a woman, much less posing for our pictures and trying to put one over on Vogue... Erik paused a moment to let the thoughts sink in, then continuing "all hell would come down on us, we'd be out of business... You know what a macho bunch of SOBS we have to deal with every day!" "Besides," Erik rushed on before Brady could comment, "I'm not really sure I like the idea of parading around in women's clothes, especially with a bunch of other people gawking and taking picture. This is to say nothing of the slight chance somebody at Vogue would be looney enough to print any of them." Erik was by now fully aware of being really en- thused about the idea and was