When I entered the dining room I found it quite crowded and the head waiter arranged for me to share a table with another unaccompanied young woman. This advantage of my second role had sometimes been a problem, but on this ocassion it was a blessing as she was a very beauti- ful blonde who had concealed her curvaceous figure in the latest fashion outrage, based on the old boiler suit (and "an old boiler" is a phrase sometimes used to describe some one who has not used the aids available to keep them looking as if they were fit and active). We intro- duced ourselves, and I hoped that Marie would accept my slightly husky voice, slightly higher than my usual but altered more in the phrasing than the pitch. She was apparently holi- daying early in the year from her father's farm where she did the books and helped with the plan- ning, as she was a graduate in farm husbandry. She was inter- ested in my description of the auction to be held later in the week, and after a satisfying and stimulating meal we had our coffee in the lounge and com- mented on the television that muttered of world affairs in the corner. I was electrified by her suddenly remarking on a pro- gramme she had seen on a pre- vious week, called "Mary's wife” as this was another pot boiler from the programmers that des- cribed a meeting of a group of people with their wives at the house of a transvestite, with new members being met, a talk on fashion and hair styling with hints at the tensions but no clear message, and the usual muddling transvestites with transsexuals and an underlying hint of homo-

sexuallity pushed out in the talk

of people in various levels of dress. I did not bite at this open- ing as I wondered what vibration Marie had picked up to raise the issue and hoped I might learn to conceal it in the future, although I was very attracted to this svelte blonde in a way Cicelia could never aspire to in a million years. Marie merely said that after the program, she had begun to look at other women not as fashion plates, but in the hope of read- ing a man so infatuated with her sex that they took the time, trouble (she felt much of femi- nine frippery was constricting and archaic not a sybaritic dream of sound, feel and a wonderful amalgam of delights) and danger to try and imitate the appearance of femininity in public. She ad- mitted she would be too shy to appraoch a person like that so I offered to help her if I was about and she made such a discovery. This seemed a good time to make an exit, so making a tentative date for the following day I went to my room in an elated state to savour the joys of disrobing and dreaming of strawberry blonde helping every delicious inch of the way. I won't tell this in detail as it is sad to see the bony frame appear before concealing it in sleep bra and a black baby doll night outfit, especially as I only see it all in a blurred way with- out the contact lenses, and a red wig on a block emphasizes the balding scalp. I put the door on the chain and shaved before go- ing to bed, in case Marie found out my room and decided to call unexpectedly or some other ca- tastrophy came in the night. I did not sleep well anyway with all the excitement, but was up early made up even more care-

- 38.

fully than usual, and wearing a quiet blue suit with matching accessories, ready to show my new friend some of the secrets of my antique world, and if every- thing miraculously worked out, perhaps I would tell them the greatest secret I had.

The first house I visited with Marie was enormous even as we approached in the car through beautiful grounds of very old scrubs, carefully kept back from the gravelled drive until we swung into sight of the house, and the country in the back- ground formed a majestic frame so the house was perfectly pro- portioned and only on leaving the car did we realise how tiny we were by the front steps. Al- though the contents were fine there were signs of the old prob- lem for a collector, sorting the originals from articles got to fill the rooms and whose authenti- city needed careful checking, though the program available here did not make any false claims. After this I brought Marie back to the hotel, where after freshening up, a much more careful procedure for Winifred than Marie! a light lunch enjoyed I pleaded an appointment so I could get to some antique shops and we arranged to meet for a farewell meal that night, as I had explained I would have to head south for a few days but that I would hope to see her the following Monday evening.

That evening I dressed with the greater enthusiasm an excit- ing partner can produce, in a dark red silk dress that hung in folds from shoulder to wrist with matching dangling earrings, neck- lace and ring on my right hand. The combination with my Titian hair I feel was satisfactory in the