There is one thing we ask of you before you start.There is one thing we ask of you before you start. We finish every beginners class with a formal ball, and require each graduate to be escorted by a man, or a woman in drag. Now some of them have boyfriends or girlfriends, and some of them don't. For the latter, we ask incoming students to act as their escort for the ball. Now if it bothers you, you needn't participate, but we find it to be a broadening experience, and a good beginning to your association with us." ****** Mike felt kind of strange as he pressed the doorbell. Here he was picking up his date, dressed in a tux and carrying a corsage, and his date was a man. Mike reviewed the Institute's rules for the evening. No advances whatsoever were to be made on his date who, he'd been told, would not appreciate it. He was to act like the perfect gentleman escorting a date to a ball. He was to treat his partner as a lady and absolutely no reference was to be made in public to the fact that they were not what they appeared be. The door opened. "Hi, you must be Mike. I'm Henrietta. Come on in." Henrietta sure didn't talk like a girl, but at least he could pass for a woman in public, even if he made a rather drab looking one. Henrietta was the same height as Mike, about 5'6" one of the reasons they'd been matched, and wore a dress of black taffeta covered with black lace, mid-heel black satin pumps, and nylons. He hadn't put his wig on yet, but had finished applying his cosmetics. "Have a seat while I finish dressing." "Just like a girl," thought Mike, "they're never ready on time. "I guess your real name is Henry?" Asked Mike. "You would think so, but it's Pete. If you don't have a girl's name picked out for yourself, you get to draw a slip of paper out of a box, and whatever name's on it is yours to keep; unless you absolutely can't stand it. The two men made small talk and Mike found himself more and more at ease with Pete. Upon discovering that Pete was a stockbroker, Mike resolved to bring him his business. This, he had been told, was a side benefit of the Institute. Many of the alumni were influential individuals, and while absolute confidentiality was the rule, they did tend to band together in a sort of 'old boys network'. |