Page 29 of Sassy & Sixty

Catherine giggled, a sound so unexpected that Rosie couldn't help but join in. Soon, they were both howling with laughter, the absurdity of the situation finally hitting home.

"Oh dear," Catherine gasped, wiping tears from her eyes. "What a pair we are. Two divorced women becoming hysterical over a woman sporting a hair scarf.”

“But she did look exactly like that woman from the poster – the one encouraging women to get involved in the war effort. Do you remember that? The woman had a red, spotty headscarf on and was flexing her biceps.”

“No, I don’t remember it from the war but then you’re considerably older than me.”

“Oy, stop that right there. I’m only four years older than you. I don’t remember the poster from the 40s. I remember seeing it in history books.”

“Yeah right,” said Catherine with a smile. She giggled to herself and turned to Rosie.

“This is such fun, isn’t it? A group of women hanging out together. It’s like being a teenager again."

"Speak for yourself," Rosie chuckled. "I never had this much excitement as a teenager."

Their chat was interrupted by the sound of a key in the lock, heralding the arrival of Emma who burst through the door, laden with shopping bags.

"I've brought reinforcements. Wine, chocolate, and so many crisps that we could paper the walls in them. By the way, your key was in the door."

“Oh,” said Rosie, taking it from Emma. “There are so many people with my keys at the moment, this could be anyone’s.”

Emma began unpacking her bags, revealing an alarming array of junk food and beauty products. “We’re having a girls’ day,” she said, as if every meeting of the Sensational Sixties Club was anything but a ‘girls’ day.’

We all need cheering up. Now, where do you keep your wine glasses?"

Before Rosie could answer, the front door burst open again, this time revealing Maria, her arms full of shopping bags, her hair still wrapped in a hair scarf.”

"I'm back!" she called out. "And I've got... oh! Hello, Emma, when did you get here? Oh, never mind, you're just in time. I've got hair dye, a new wardrobe, and... is that wine I see? Perfect!"

“Yes, there’s plenty of wine. Where have you been? Out helping the war effort? Working in a munitions factory or something?”

Maria took the scarf out of her hair. “What is wrong with you all?” she asked. “I like to keep my hair clean and tidy. I always wear this at home. I didn’t realise it would become such a conversation starter.”

“Starting conversations is all good. Anyway, you don’t have to worry about what you look like, because we are going to transform our appearances while drinking wine and gossiping.”

As Emma unloaded enough beauty products to open a small branch of Boots, the others looked on.

“Why on earth do we need all this?” asked Catherine. “And where has it come from? You’ve never struck me as a beauty products kind of woman.”

“Me? No. I never use any of it, but the woman who lives next door is a beauty PR, and she is given lots of freebies. She brought a big bag full round, so I’ve brought the bag here”

“Well, that’s very generous of her. Let ‘Operation Makeover' begin,” said Rosie, looking through the vast array of products. There were creams, lotions and potions for every possible problem in every area of the body. Green cream to combat redness, conditioning oil for eyelashes, neck creams, hair oil, facial massaging contraptions…it was ridiculous. Who had time to do all this?

“No, I don’t know what it’s all for either,” said Emma, reading Rosie’s mind. “There are products here to cure beauty issues that I didn’t know existed.”

While Emma and Rosie looked askance at the array of products, Catherine dived in. “Oooo…tweezers,” she said. “I’ve always wanted to get my eyebrows done.”

Rosie didn’t feel quite so adrift at this point. At least she was aware of the value of tweezers and regularly had her eyebrows tended to.

“Come on then,” said Emma, lifting the tweezers like a weapon and moving in the direction of Catherine’s face. “Let’s sort out these big, fat caterpillars for you.”

Rosie found herself swept along on the tide of giggling, gossiping, and general mayhem. She’d had her toe nails painted by Catherine, had covered herself in a face masque that had made her skin tingle and was rubbish ‘elbow defender’ into her rough elbows.

As evening fell, they ordered in an alarming amount of Chinese food and settled in the living room, surrounded by the detritus of their 'spa day.'

"You know," Maria said, admiring her newly red locks in a hand mirror, "I haven't had this much fun in years. David always said these kinds of girls' nights were frivolous."

"Well, David's an idiot," Emma declared, raising her wine glass in a toast. "Here's to frivolity, and to friends who don't judge you for it!"

---