‘Don’t be an eejit!’ scolded Mairead. ‘You look grand in your riding jodhpurs and black sweater. They show off your figure.’
‘I can’t wear my riding breeches to a concert!’ wailed Katherine.
‘Of course you can. You know it said jodhpurs are the newfashion in that magazine Maureen got from her aunt in London.’
Sorcha dumped her bag on the floor. ‘I don’t know why you’re worrying,’ she said. ‘You know how the boys all swoon when you walk past. You don’t even have to try with that lovely long blonde hair and your big blue eyes.’
‘Get along with you,’ said Katherine. ‘You’re the envy of every girl in the class with your red curls and long legs. You’re just as pretty as any of those models in Maureen’s magazine.’
‘When each of you has finished telling the other she should enter a beauty pageant tomorrow, perhaps we can get down to business.’ Mairead raised an eyebrow. ‘Maureen’s late. She said she’d be here by half past four. It’s gone five o’clock now.’
‘She’ll be here,’ said Sorcha, nodding. ‘I saw her in town earlier.’
‘Right. Well.’ Mairead picked up a brush and comb, brandishing them at the girls. ‘Who’s first in my salon?’
An hour and a half later, the transformation was complete. Sorcha surveyed her reflection with wonderment.
‘I can’t believe it’s me.’ She made an exaggerated ‘O’ with her painted scarlet lips. Her eyelids felt heavy with the false eyelashes her friend had applied. Sorcha touched her hair, which Mairead had teased into a neat twist, then fastened with kirby grips onto the top of her head. The old kilt she’d found languishing at the back of her wardrobe had taken well to being shortened seven inches. She’d altered the side seams so that it hugged her thighs and showed off her long, slim legs.
Katherine was also admiring herself. ‘Mairead, you ought to open your own salon. You’re a genius,’ she smiled.
Mairead shrugged modestly and folded away the picture of the model from the magazine she’d been copying from. ‘It wasnothing. Now, it’s time for me. Will you ring Maureen while I’m in the bathroom?’
Sorcha hardly took her eyes off the mirror. ‘If she’s not here in ten minutes, I will.’
‘Grand. Tidy up a little, will you?’
‘We’ll try,’ sighed Katherine, sitting gingerly on the bed so as not to disturb her golden locks, which Mairead had brushed until they shone. ‘You know, I don’t think our mammies would recognise us even if they found where we were tonight.’
‘No. I can only imagine what my daddy would say if he saw my painted face and short skirt.’
‘Do you think it will happen tonight for one of us?’ asked Katherine.
‘What do you mean, “it”?’ asked Sorcha.
‘That we might get kissed.’ Katherine tucked her long legs under herself.
‘Who knows?’
The two girls sat in silence, pondering the enormity of such an event.
There was a knocking from downstairs. Katherine jumped up. ‘That’ll be Maureen. I’ll go let her in.’
Two minutes later, Katherine appeared back in the bedroom with a flushed Maureen.
‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph! I thought I’d never escape. Shane is sick and Mammy made me mind him while she was out. How much time have I got to get ready?’
‘Plenty if we all help you,’ Katherine reassured her.
Half an hour later, the four girls were sitting on the bed nervously contemplating their deception.
Maureen, looking uncomfortable in an emerald-green dress she’d stolen from her mother’s wardrobe, shook her head. ‘I don’t know whether we shouldn’t forget this, make some sandwiches and put our pyjamas on.’
‘Just stop panicking. Here.’ Mairead produced a small bottle of whiskey from under the bed. ‘We all need some courage.’ She took the top off, put the bottle to her lips, threw her head back and drank.
The other girls watched as Mairead’s eyes began to water.
‘Quick, your mascara will run.’ Sorcha offered her a handkerchief.
