Page 69 of Lessons in Life

‘A boy, is it?’

‘A boy? No, Granny, it’snot. It’s a girl.’

‘You’re not one of those lesbians, are you?’ Maude continued to stare and then cackled. ‘Mind you, doesn’t matter if you are. I always quite liked girls myself. Beatrice Harding and I got up to all sorts in the dorm. I think I could have been… what’s it called these days?’ She paused to think. ‘Bisexual… you know?’

‘Granny!’ Eloise’s face was puce.

‘So, a friend?’

‘I’m going out with some of the girls from the mill.’

‘The office girls?’ Maude pulled a face. ‘What does your mother think to that?’

Even less if she knew she was off out with the weavers and menders, Eloise thought, without correcting her grandmother. ‘Would you drop me down there?’

‘And your parents don’t know?’

When Eloise deigned not to answer, Maude sniffed, put down her drink and reached for the keys to her old Morris Minor. ‘Not sure I totally approve but come on, then, lead the way.’

* * *

‘Janice!’ The acne-faced teen who answered the door at 26 Petunia Way on the large Micklethwaite council estate managed to call behind him without turning his head, a feat Eloise found mightily impressive. ‘There’s some posh bird here says she knows you.’

‘Get out the way, Stuart,’ Janice said, pushing him back into the kitchen once she saw Eloise on the doorstep. ‘Oh, good, you came, Eloise. I never thought you would. Just getting ready. Come upstairs.’

Eloise followed Janice, in her full regalia of curlers and face pack and stripped down to bra and pants, up the stairs.

‘Watch the step at the top,’ she warned. ‘There’s a hole in the carpet – nearly went arse over tit a few days ago.’ She led Eloise into a tiny but immaculately neat bedroom, the outfit Janice had put out for the evening hanging over the door. ‘Right,’ she said, ‘let me get myself sorted and we’ll work out what you’re going to wear.’

‘WhatI’mgoing to wear? I’ve not brought anything else with me.’

‘Well, thank God for that if the rest of your stuff’s like what you’ve got on now. I thought with all your money you’d have had some fabulous clothes?’

When Eloise felt herself redden and started to say that, really, she’d just popped in to say hello, but she’d be off now, Janice took pity on her. ‘Sit down there. We’re about the same size although you’re much taller than me. God, I wish I was willowy like you.’ She moved to a single wardrobe, rifling through its rail of clothes until she found what she’d obviously had in mind for Eloise. ‘Right, see how that looks. Let me just finish my make-up and then I’ll help you with yours.’

‘Oh, I couldn’t. I’ll never fit into that.’

‘Just try it,’ Janice said patiently.

Scarlet-faced once more as she removed her blouse and skirt, Eloise had the A-line pink and contrasting single white flower dress over her head when she heard another, much older voice.

‘Who’ve you got in there with you, Janice?’

‘It’s Eloise, Mum. From work.’

The door opened. ‘Oh, hello, love. Ooh, that dress doesn’t half look good on you.’

‘Mum made it,’ Janice said proudly, turning to Eloise, a mascara wand in hand. ‘I just showed her a picture of the Mary Quant dress inJackieand she was off to get the material from the Monday market. She got her Singer out and there you go.’

‘Oh!’ Eloise had caught sight of herself in the mirror. ‘Oh, it’s so pretty.’ She tried to pull it down over her knees. ‘But it’s way too short for me.’ She reached for the zip at the back once more but Norma Atkinson stayed her hand. ‘No, it’s not; shows off those fabulous pins of yours. It’s beautiful, love. You’re beautiful. Just let our Janice put you a bit of make-up on.’

‘Right.’ Janice turned from taking out the curlers and brushing her now bouncy hair down to her shoulders. ‘Which dress, Mum? This one I’ve already got out?’

‘How about the little yellow-and-white one I copied fromVogue? The daisy dress.’

‘Ooh, yes, I’ve not worn it since we went to Blackpool last summer.’

Eloise stared, taken aback at the girly banter between Janice and her mother. Never in a million years could she imagine Muriel chatting to her like her best friend while she stood there in her undergarments. She felt a flash of envy. What must it be like to have a mother like this one?

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