The rain that had been threatening all day finally arrived just as the last of the two night clubs in the street closed up for the night.
The many very scantily clad revelers dashed on their impossibly high heels for every taxi that ventured into this small side street in Islington.

In the end only a few people remained from the first club to be taken onto another club or to their homes.

The next taxi pulled up and a small woman opened the door to get in.

“Anyone going to Mildmay Park?” she called out.

A voice came from the other side of the road where the other club was just starting to empty.
“I am.”

“Come on then let’s share,” said the small woman.

She got into the cab and closed the door just as the owner of the other voice got in on the other side.

The two passengers saw each other clearly for the first time.

“Fuck,” said the second person.

“Shit,” said the first woman.

By now the second person had entered the cab and shut the door.

The cabbie had heard the exchange and turned around.

“Is everything OK? Does one of you want to take another cab or shall I get going?”

The two people looked at each other for a long second.

The second one broke the ice.

“You had better get going.”

The cabbie gave them a weary smile and said,

“OK, but any cat fighting, and both of you are out of this cab. Understood?”

Both occupants grumbled an acceptance of his terms and the ‘Black Cab’ did a ‘U’ turn in the road and headed towards the requested destination.

There was a stony silence in the back for the whole journey. Both just occupants starred at each other and sat as far away from each other as possible.

This suited the cabbie down to the ground but nevertheless he kept a watchful eye on his passengers the whole time.

When the cab passed the long disused North London Line Railway Station called ‘Mildmay Park’ he asked,
“Where to now?”

The small woman answered,

“Take the first right and then the first left. Stop outside number twelve.”

Thirty seconds later, the cab stopped at the requested place.

“That will be Fourteen Twenty,” announced the driver.

The small woman dug out a  £20.00 note from her purse and gave it to the driver.

He began to search for some change.

“Don’t bother with the change. You can take the other passenger to King Henry St. That should cover the extra distance.”

He smiled back at them and unlocked the doors.

The small woman opened the one on her side and began to get out.

The other occupant said,

“We should talk.”

The small woman stopped and turned round.

“OK,” she said resigned to the fact that she was not going to get away from this encounter scott free.

They both left the cab much to the relief of the driver as he hurried away in search of another fare although that would be unlikely in that part of North London at well after 03:00 on a Sunday morning.

Nothing was said between the two as the small woman unlocked the door to her basement apartment and they went inside.

Once inside, she shut and locked the door and took off her leather coat.

She was wearing very little underneath. A very short leather skirt and matching bra, thigh high boots with extremely high heels and what could have been a leather dog collar around her neck.

The other person was dressed very differently.

In the light of the hallway, it became obvious that although the clothes were female the wearer was a man.

“Take your coat off and sit down while I get these boots off said the small woman.”

She didn’t wait for an answer but turned on those very heels and disappeared into the one bedroom of the flat.

The other person slowly removed his coat, hung it up and went through the open door into the Lounge/Diner/Kitchen.

He was wearing an off the shoulder long back evening dress. His normal short brown hair was under a shortish blonde wig.

Even though his makeup was pretty good it had only taken half a second for the other woman to recognise him as they had gotten into the cab.

The other woman quickly returned still wearing the leather gear but instead of the ‘killer heels’ she was wearing a pair of pink fluffy slippers on her tiny feet.

The man saw them and sniggered slightly.

“Tea?” suggested the woman.

He nodded.

She filled the kettle and put it on to boil.

“I’m so sorry for startling you like that Mae-Lin,” said the man joining her in the kitchen area.

The young woman of Chinese origin didn’t say anything but busied herself getting the cups and other things ready to make the tea.

When she was done, she said,

“Not a word of this gets out at work understand?”

He swallowed hard. He’d not expected her to say that.

“Yes… Same for you I suppose?”

She half turned her face towards him. Then a smile slowly formed on her face.

“If the others could see us now, they would have a fit.”

He replied, “If they could see us now, they’d die laughing.”

The kettle came to a boil and Mae-Lin made the promised tea.

“It’s only Green Tea I’m afraid. I don’t have any milk until the morning. I used the last of it for the cat.”

As if on cue, a black cat came into the room from the hallway and greeted Mae-Lin in typical cat fashion.

Mae-Lin poured the tea into a mug and handed it to him.

“Thanks,” he replied slightly hesitantly.

She noticed his nails were painted using very dark blue colour. Hers by contrast were jet black as was her very heavy eye shadow.

“Come on, lets sit down and talk,” he suggested.

They both sat down.

“Alan… I can’t call you Alan dressed like that,” said Mae-Lin once they’d sat down.

“Miranda. I call myself Miranda,” he replied quietly.

“Good. What are we going to do next?” she asked.

He took a sip of the tea in order to keep himself from making him seem even more of an idiot than he was.

In the end, Mae-Lin answered for herself.

“Ideally, the both of us should forget all about this and when we get to work on Monday, we should keep quiet about our rather unconventional habits.”

Both of them were department managers at a large department store in the West End. They’d both started there after they’d graduated from University some three and a bit years before but they’d hardly come into contact with each other in the course of their duties. Mae-Lin was head of soft-furnishings while Alan managed the toy department.

“Ideally? Damn right we should keep very quiet about this if either one of us wants to keep our jobs,” he responded.

“I suppose you are right. At least we have a job. If it gets out the we are not as straight as we appear to be then…”

“I know. Look what happened to Veronica Mace last year?”

He nodded his understanding.

Veronica was the third of the trio of graduates that had been employed at the same time as them. The previous year, she’d gone off on leave to Glastonbury and returned with a very visible tattoo on her neck. As soon as the management found out about it, she was ‘sent’ to work in a branch of a partner company in Liverpool as ‘work experience on the front line’. Three months later she’d resigned and gone to work in her native Glasgow. It was a legal form of constructive dismissal or so the rumor went. Neither of them wanted that to happen to them.

“So we are agreed then. Say nothing?” suggested Mae-Lin.

“I’m agreed.”

Mae-Lin put her mug of tea down on the table and stood up.

She went over to where he was standing and took his mug from him.

“OK. I get the hint. I should be going.”

He stood up.

They stood side by side. He was a good foot taller than her even though he was only wearing 3in heels.

She led him towards the door but to his surprise, she let him into her bedroom.

“Eh? What are you doing?”

“I feel the need to dominate someone. You will have to do.”

Before he could argue, she’d pushed him down onto her bed and snapped a pair of handcuffs on him.

Miranda was clearly not going home that night.

*

Mae-Lin gently shook him away just before midday.

“Time to get up sleepy head”

He opened his eyes and smiled at her.

“Eh?”

Then he realized where he was.

“Oh shit. I’d better get going.”

He went to sit up but found that his left arm was still secured to the bed with a handcuff.

With a sad expression on his face he sank back onto the pillows.

“I don’t suppose you would release me?”

Mae-Lin laughed.

“Are you going to go home dressed as you were last night, in broad daylight?”

“I suppose not.”

“Then you can stay until it gets dark.”

“I think you might be right on that one.”

She leaned over and released his wrist.

“I’ve made us something to eat. Why don’t you go and remove what’s left of your makeup while I dish it up.”

She walked out the door without waiting for a reply.
Mae-Lin called back,
There is a dressing gown on the back of the door in the bathroom. It should fit you.

Ten minutes later Alan entered the small kitchen wearing the tartan dressing gown.

“This does not seem very you?” he commented as he sat down.

She giggled as she dished up some food for him.

“A man I once knew left it behind when he left.”

Alan started to say something but thought better of it so he just sat down at the tiny table.

*

“You are a very good cook,” said Alan when he’d finished the meal.

“Don’t be silly. That was just some leftovers.”

“Very good leftovers all the same.”

“If you are trying to get me to cook you dinner then,”

“Yeah, I know, think again.”

He smiled.

“I wasn’t really trying. I was simply trying to pay my host a compliment.”

“Thank you. I’ll take it just as that then.”

Alan shooed her off to get dressed while he did the dishes in return for lunch.

As he dried the dishes, he thought back to what had happened when Mae-Lin had literally attacked him and … well did things to him that he could only have dreamed about in some form of wild fantasy.

He smiled to himself as he then thought about the Mae-Lin he’d known before last night. By contrast, the proverbial ‘Church Mouse’ was as loud as Heavy Metal Rock band playing. She always kept herself to herself in the staff canteen. He recalled the training courses they’d been on together, where the instructors always had a hard job getting her to participate in discussions and everything else.

He realized that if she had been more forthcoming that she’d probably be his boss by now. Last night had proven that she was really a very driven woman underneath that reserved image she normally projected to the world.

Any more pondering on his part was cut short when Mae-Lin came into the kitchen.

She was wearing the same outfit as she’d worn the previous night.

“Fancy another little lesson?”

This was the last thing that he wanted.

His face gave the game away.

To his surprise, Mae-Lin smiled at him and said,
“Good. If you had said yes then you’d be out that door in an instant.”

His mouth dropped open in surprise.
“Why… why are you dressed like that then?”

“Because I like to dress like this. It makes a change from our work clothes does it not?”

“Yes.. Yes it does.”

“Do you like it? You didn’t say much last night.”

“I didn’t really get much chance did I? I was gagged for most of the time.”

She laughed.
“Not really… So?”

“Yes… Yes I do.”

“Good. I’m glad you do. I’ll wear it for you when you come round again.”

His mouth did that dropping open act again.

“Me? Here?”

“Yes. Why? Don’t you like the idea then?”

“No… Yes… Oh shit I’m useless at this.”

She just smiled back at him.

He recovered his composure a bit.

“I do like the idea but I can’t help thinking that there is another reason for doing this?”

“Doing what?”

He looked at her long and hard.

“Getting me to be… to be your sex slave.”

Her reaction to that took him by surprise.

“If I wanted you to be that I’d never have let you go. You couldn’t be farther from the truth.”

“What is the truth? At work, you wouldn’t say boo to a goose. Here, you… it’s like you are a different person. I don’t know which is the real you?”

She leaned over towards him. He thought he was going to kiss him. Instead she licked the tip of his nose gently and in a way that sent shivers down his spine.

“This one. This is the real me. Well, a slightly toned down version. Work is an act. I’d never get very far like this unless I opened my legs to do it.”

He didn’t reply straight away.

“What do you want from me?” he asked seriously.

“Do you want me to teach you to be a woman?”

He visibly sank back from this.

“What’s wrong? I thought from last night that you are a tranny?”

“I am. But look at me. I could never be a passable woman.”

She knew what he meant. He was just too big to be a passable woman.

“Is that why you go to the tranny club? Just to be with others like you?”

“Yes. I can be myself without people pointing at me and shouting ‘There goes the poor sissy’”

“Can I come with you?”

“What?”

She sighed.

“I’d like to come with you the next time you go.”

“Why? Why one earth would you want to come with me?”

Then she kissed him properly for the first time.

“Is that good enough reason?”

Alan broke off from her grip and sat down

“I’m so confused.”

Mae-Lin took hold of his hand and sat on his lap straddling him.

“Meeting you last night wasn’t an accident. I saw you a month or so back going into the club. Then I knew you were like me, living a double life.”

“So you decided to trap me like you did last night?”

She kissed him gently.

“No. It’s not like that.”

“No? That’s how it seems to me.”

“Look we both have secrets we’d like to keep well hidden. Why not keep them hidden together?”

“So I become the silly tranny and you get to dominate me?”

She grinned at him.

“If you want to put it so crudely then yes.”

He looked back at her with sad eyes.

Then he shook his head and stood up at the same time letting her slide off his lap.

He didn’t say another word as he gathered up the clothes he’d worn the previous night and headed for the door of the flat.

“You can’t go out dressed like that?” cried Mae-Lin.

Then he tripped on a piece of carpet. The only way he could keep his balance was to drop the clothes he was carrying..

“Fuck it!” he exclaimed.

He picked up the handbag he’d been carrying the night before and extracted his door keys and wallet before walking out of her flat wearing a cast off dressing gown and nothing on his feet.

*

The next day he handed in his notice at the store. Mae-Lin had called in sick.

*

Alan was dismayed to find Mae-Lin waiting for him as he arrived home from work that night.

“What are you doing here? I heard that you’d called in sick?”

She totally ignored his questions. He realized that this was becoming something of a habit.

“We need to talk,” she said in a voice that said, ‘I’m not taking no for an answer’.

Alan sighed as he got out his keys to open the front door to his home.

*

“This place is pretty cool,” said Mae-Lin as she reviewed the sitting room.

He just grunted an acknowledgment.

“I hear you resigned. Why on earth did you have to do that?” said Mae-Lin as she sat down.

“How did you know?”

She tapped the side of her nose.

Then she smiled.

“Kim Wong in Personnel called me to let me know.”

“Why would she call you to let you know, especially as you’d called in sick?”

“Men! You really have no idea do you?”

The blank look on his face told her everything she needed to know.

“You do know that you were in line for promotion to assistant manager? Now you’ve thrown it all away.”

“Me? Promotion? Now you are dreaming or smoking something illegal.”

“Never mind. It’s all gone now. It means that I’ll probably get it instead.”

Mae-Lin didn’t look very happy at the prospect.

“You don’t seem very pleased?”

“It means I’ll be Management! I don’t want to be Management.”

Alan shook his head.

“If you don’t want to be Management then why did you sign up for the ‘Accelerated Management Training Programme’ three years ago?”

“It is a long story,” she replied bluntly.

Alan smiled back at her. For once he felt that he was winning a conversation with her.

“We have plenty of time to spare don’t we? After all, you are off sick and I’ve resigned.”

She didn’t answer immediately but after a few seconds, she began.

“I was born in Hong Kong. My mother is from Hong Kong but my father comes from the East End. His family came over in the 1850’s. He worked for a bank and they sent him to HK where they met, got married and I’m the result. I was sent to school here before HK reverted to Chinese rule. I had to promise that I would never go back.”

Then she paused and looked rather sad.

“I did. My family didn’t thank me for it. After the 1997 reversion to Chinese rule, my father became an official in the HK Government and a corrupt as hell. I don’t like what they’ve become.”

Then she noticed that Alan wasn’t really listening to her story so she stopped.

Finally he realized that she’d stopped talking.

“Look Mae-Lin, I’ve resigned and that’s it. I’ll find somewhere else to work and get on with my life. I’d like to suggest that you do the same. I can’t let you into my life. It would kill me.”

She sat looking at him open mouthed.

“I… I thought that we were… we were going to be OK?” she spluttered.

“No Mae-Lin we are not going to be OK. All you want to do is humiliate me. You might be small and quiet to most people but remember, I’ve seen the real you, the one you keep hidden and only let out when the moon is full.”

She looked shocked.

“Now I’d like you to leave. Please leave me alone from now on.”

Still too stunned to say no, Mae-Lin stood up and let herself be shown the door without another word being said between them.

*

Alan didn’t actually leave the company. Thanks to his standing with the Store Manager, he was offered and accepted a transfer to their Reading branch as manager of the woman’s fashion department.

{about six months later}

“Alan, another sampler package has arrived from you from London,” said Susan, Alan’s assistant.

He groaned. This was a pretty common occurrence. In the previous 6 months, he received on average, one of these packages a week. They usually contained samples of the new ranges that would on sale in the coming months. His job was to show them to the sales staff so that they would be aware of what they’d be selling well before they actually had to.

“Why don’t you sort this weeks items out? I’ll look at them when I get back from the management meeting which If I don’t hurry up, I’ll be late for and have to buy everyone else lunch next Friday,” said Alan as he gathered up his papers and dashed out of the office.

Susan had been next in line for the position of department head. At first, she had been very resentful of Alan. She didn’t take kindly to a man being ‘parachuted’ into the branch above her head six months earlier. Her initial reaction of ‘what the hell does a man know about woman’s fashion had not lasted very long.
When she realized that he actually knew something about the clothes that women wore and importantly, what went with what and what didn’t and that he wasn’t out to stab her in the back, they began to get on together.

The other assistants soon followed suit and began asking his opinion on things. Whilst it didn’t make her look very good as an individual but the sales figures didn’t lie. These were in turn translated into hard cash in all their pockets. As a single mother of two, the extra money she was earning in bonuses more than made up for not having the actual title of department manager.

Alan remained a mystery to everyone in the store. He kept himself to himself. No one even knew if he had a girlfriend or if he was gay.

Like Alan, she hated the packages from London. It meant at least an hour of work after the store closed the next day. She’d made a mental note to make sure a friend picked up her children from school as she’d be doing an hour or more of unpaid overtime as the following day was Alan’s scheduled day off.

With a slightly weary heart, she opened the package.

Instead of the normal six of eight garments there was just the one. Sitting on top of it was a single sheet of paper.

Intrigued, she read it.

“Alan,
I have tried very hard to get you out of my mind but I can’t. In the last six months, I’ve changed and would like us to try again as equals.

I made this for you to wear when we meet again. I have another one for myself. I want us to be together more than anything.

With all my Love
Mae-Lin”

Susan couldn’t believe what she’d just read. She re-read it several times before she pulled the single item out of the package to see exactly what it is this ‘Mae-Lin’ wanted him wear.

As she did so, a pair of high-heeled sandals came with it and fell onto the floor.

She giggled as she saw a set of woman’s underwear follow them onto the office floor.

The one item of clothing turned out to be a dress. It was made of Chinese silk and hand embroidered. Someone had gone to an awful lot of trouble.

She examined the craftsmanship in detail. It was exquisite in every detail.

Everything was hand sewn. The dress had never been near a sewing machine.

Finally, she looked at the material itself. The quality of the raw material was obvious but when she looked at it closely, she knew she was looking at the sort of silk that hardly ever seen outside of China. The only word to describe it was ‘exquisite’.

Then she looked at the shoes. As she did so, a huge smile spread over her face as she realized what this meant.

“So Alan’s a tranny. That explains an awful lot about him,” she said to herself.

Then a sad realism came over her as she realized that she’d have to keep the package contents a secret from Alan. She knew in her heart that he’d not take kindly to her showing the package to him.

The previous six months had shown her that he was an immensely private person. Even working closely with him, she knew next to nothing about him or his private life. Now, she knew why.

She looked at the clock and made a quick decision. She couldn’t let Alan know that she knew his secret. She put the items back into the cardboard box they come in. Then she hurried out of their office and down into the basement of the store where the employee lockers were located. Quickly, she opened hers and stuffed everything inside.

Normally, the store detectives would make sure that none of the staff left with anything belonging to the shop. She smiled to herself as she realized that she’d like to shove these items right into their faces. None of them were on any inventory of the shop so they wouldn’t be able to stop her from leaving with them.

Susan made it back to the office just before Alan returned from his meeting.

“How was the meeting?” asked a slightly breathless Susan.

“We are the top department as usual. Two more weeks and that will be three months on top. A bit more bonus for all of us,” replied Alan very pleased with the outcome.

“That’s good news. Kylie needs a new school blazer. She came home last week with one sleeve hanging off. Peter will need some new rugby boots next term so the money will come in useful.”

Alan chuckled at her reply. He liked Susan for her very down to earth attitude. He knew that she’d had it hard bringing up two children on her own. He’d been told that she put them first even down to refusing the advantages of some very eligible bachelors.

“What happened to the review package?”

“Oh that. I sent it back. Someone messed up, as it contained all the same stuff as last week.”

Alan sighed.

“Did you call them up and tell them?”

This was one thing that she’d forgotten about.

“No. I’ll do it during lunch.”

“Fine, go and give Sylvia a chance to go and get something to eat. Make the call when she gets back from Lunch.”

“Aye-aye boss,” joked Susan as she left him alone to work on another of the reports that he had to submit on a weekly basis. That was one part of his job that she didn’t mind not having to do.

*

Susan spent a very restless night trying to decide how to make the phone call to Mae-Lin. The more she thought of it, the more she convinced herself that she was doing the wrong thing.

She fell asleep wondering what he’d look like wearing that silk dress. She didn’t like it that she was getting attracted to him. She’d not had the best of experiences with men in her life. Her two children were evidence of that.

*

A new day brought new resolve to Susan. She would make the call to London.

Despite her determination, it was almost lunchtime before Susan had an opportunity to make the phone call.

Even so, she dithered about making the call. She knew what she had to say but she doubted her ability to actually get them out.

Finally, she picked up the phone and dialed the number of her department in London.

“Mae-Lin Wong please?” said Susan when it was answered.

“I’ll hold.”

Two minutes later.

“Hello. Is that Mae-Lin?”

“Yes. Hello. My name is Susan Fielding. I work in the Reading store. Alan Parsons is my department manager.”

There was a long period of silence from the other end of the phone.

“Mae-Lin? Are you there?”

She heard a response.

“I saw the contents of the package you sent. He asked me to open the package while he was in a meeting. We thought it was our weekly samples package. He knows nothing about what I found inside it.”

Again there was silence from the other end.

“He obviously means a lot to you. I’d like to help if it is at all possible.”

*

A week later, Alan and Susan had the task of doing the semi-annual departmental stock take. This meant staying behind several nights after the store closed for the day and doing a physical inventory of all their stock. As the largest department in the store this was no small task. It took them four evenings working until close to 11pm each day. Susan had sent her children to stay with her mother for the week and the overtime would be nice with Christmas and various birthdays fast approaching.

As they put the finishing touches to the stock-take report, Susan said,

“How about I cook us a meal tomorrow night? The kids are at their grandmothers’ all week so it would be nice to have some adult company for a change?”

This offer stunned Alan. It was totally out of the blue.

“I don’t know what to say?”

She smiled back at him.

“How about yes, I’d be glad to come?”

“Yes. OK then. I’ll come.”

Susan breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“Great. We can sort out the details tomorrow.”

*

As soon as Susan got home, she called Mae-Lin to give her the good news.
Susan went to bed that night happy that she had done her part.

*
Alan arrived at Susan’s home just before 8pm the following day. He felt slightly nervous about the whole thing but he felt that the pair of them deserved a nice evening after all the hard work they’d done that week.

He rang the front door bell and waited for it to be answered.

He was not expecting to see Mae-Lin standing there in front of him.

“Mae-Lin? Where’s Susan?”

A smiling Mae-Lin replied,

“She’s gone to her mothers to be with her Children.”

He didn’t know what to do. He contemplated running away but he’d done that once already.

“Are you going to come in?”

“I… I think you owe me an explanation.”

*

Mae-Lin showed him into the Lounge-diner where the table was set for dinner.

The package that she’d sent him was also on the table.

Mae-Lin opened it and read him the note she’d written.

When she’d finished, Mae-Lin added,

“It was just my luck that Susan opened the package instead of you. She and I have spent quite a lot of time talking on the phone about you. We hatched this plan to get you here tonight and I’d like to hope that you might wear this dress I made for you.”

Alan started to understand what this was all about.

“I feel rather used. You must think that one encounter and we are going to be together for life. If you do, you are very much mistaken. Now, I must go.”

He turned to leave her. Then he stopped and said,

“Mae-Lin, I don’t fancy you. I might well have fancied you once but not now. Most certainly not now. I wish you well but please do not contact me again.”

With that he walked out of her life again.

As he walked towards the bus stop and the first of two buses and a train that he’d have to take to get home, he realized that the next few days at work was going to be difficult for him. He would have to tread carefully with Susan.

*
There was indeed a bit of tension between them until eventually, Susan broke the ice.

“I’m so sorry Alan. I thought that I was… I was only trying to help.”

He returned a very forced smile.

“Don’t worry Susan. It was a mistake that anyone could make. I am sure that somewhere inside her, Mae-Lin is a wonderful person but not my type. She needs someone to dominate. I’m not that person.”

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“When I saw that delightful dress and read that letter, I felt sad for you and wanted to help.”

He stopped what he was doing and smiled back at her.

“I know you meant well so lets hear nothing more about it.”

*

At the end of the working day, Susan was making sure that all the tills had been cashed up when Alan came up to her and said,

“I’ve done the rest of the tills so that is just about it for the day. Lets get out of here.”

This gesture of friendliness puzzled her as she grabbed her coat and purse before following him down the stairs and out of the staff entrance into the cold night air.

“There is going to be a frost tonight,” commented Alan as he looked up at the clear sky.

This was the first time that he’d left the building with her.

“Alan, what’s wrong? I am so sorry about last night.”

He looked at her sweetly before saying,

“It is alright about last night. No, that is not why I waited for you tonight.”

She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face.

“I… Oh sod it. Susan, it is you that I fancy. I have done for months. I wanted to ask you out so many times but there was always the problem of my dressing up so I never asked you out.”

She didn’t get the chance to reply as his lips met hers. Surprisingly, she found that she didn’t object to his embraces.

“I certainly didn’t expect that Alan,” said Susan as they came up for air.

“Neither did I. It just sort of happened,” he replied smiling.

“Are you serious? Please don’t tell me you are joking about because of last night?”

“Yes. Yes I am serious and I’m not joking. Is this going to be a problem?”

She smiled back at him.

Then she reached out and took hold of his hand.

“It most certainly won’t be a problem if you will wear that beautiful dress that Mae-Lin made for you?”

“But what about your children?”

“That will be a problem we can deal with on another day.”

Then she kissed him.

“Do you want to go to my home and model that dress for me?”

“Why not? I think I owe Mae-Lin that much.”

[The End]