RELUCTANT PRESS

"You're such a pretty thing," she added with a smile. "Is Dani short for Danielle?"

me.

I did not know what to say so my mother answered for

"Yes it is," she said with a smile and I could hear Mrs. Raiche chuckle behind me.

"I think Danielle is such a pretty name. If you don't mind, I'll call you that instead of Dani, dear," Mrs. Winston said. Turning to my mother she said "Are you her mother? Now I can see where she gets her good looks."

"Thank you. For both of us," my mother responded.

I had finally caught on.

Mrs. Winston thought I was a girl!

Thinking about it later I realized it was not at all unusual. After all, a beauty shop was a place where you expected to see only women (in those days) and anybody would have assumed that somebody looking like I did and working in a salon had to be a girl!

"Special plans tonight?" she asked me.

I was still in too much shock to reply.

"Yes, we're invited to a formal dinner party," my mother answered.

"Oh, lovely. What are you going to wear, Danielle?" Once more it was my mother that answered.

"I have a pretty cocktail dress that I'm going to let her borrow."

"Sounds nice, Donna. Tell us all about it and don't miss any details," Mrs. Raiche said, getting into the charade.

"It's a gorgeous pink with a tight satin top and a fluffy chiffon skirt. Of course, she'll wear several layers of petticoats to fluff up the full skirt. Then I figured white heels, white lace gloves, and I'm going to let her borrow my pearl necklace and matching earrings."

I was afraid to look at anybody. I knew that I must be deep red and my hand shook as I handed my mother a curler. I did catch a glance of Mrs. Raiche in the mirror and saw that she was trying desperately to control her giggling. "Oh, I'll bet you'll look ravishing, Danielle."

"Dani hasn't seen the dress yet, but she's in for another surprise. It's strapless! It's her first time wearing a strapless

RUFFLES & CURLES

By Kammi Morton

and you can probably remember how you felt, as we all did, that..."

"Oh my yes!" Mrs. Winston interrupted with a laugh. "I was so afraid that it wouldn't stay up, or that they'd fall out if I bent over."

Now all three women, my mother, Mrs. Raiche, and Mrs. Winston laughed openly.

I just wanted to crawl into a hole!

"Well, Dani doesn't have to worry about them falling out. As you can see, she's a little underdeveloped so we'll have to get some falsies too," my mother added.

With that remark I though for sure that Mrs. Raiche would fall out of her chair, she was laughing so hard. "You'll need a strapless bra to go with that, Danielle," Mrs. Raiche said, stressing my name. "Do you have one?" she asked, the tease very obvious.

"Well, I thought about that," answered my mother. "Danielle's waist is a little bigger than mine so we'll need to do a little squeezing. I have a cute white satin merry widow that will solve both the problem of the waist and the bra. Of course, she'll still need some padding!" she observed with a chuckle.

clue.

I had no idea what a "merry widow" was, but soon got a

"Will this be your first time in a corset, dear?" Mrs. Winston asked me.

I could only nod an affirmative answer.

"You young girls today are so lucky. My mother had me in a tight, whale boned corset at twelve! I was so excited the first time feeling so grown up, but soon came to hate the thing. But you get used to them, don't you, ladies?"

My mother and Mrs. Raiche nodded in agreement. Me? I wanted nothing more than for this conversation to be over.

Mrs. Winston saw my discomfort and said, "Don't be embarrassed dear, we all have to get a little help in different ways. You're so pretty that all the boys will be staring at your face. So, how are you going to wear your hair?"

"I'm planning a very feminine up-do," answered my mother. "The back will be swept up and the top arranged in

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