34 -MY SON, THE BRIDESMAID

pooed it, then began putting it up on dozens of rollers. He must of turned every shade of red. And what was worse, they had arrived by bus. I guess he figured that his hair wouldn't be too noticeable. But I would think that he had quite an interesting bus ride home, because I had done his hair in an upswept pile of neatly pinned curl ringlets and baby breath. He certainly looked like a little 'Prom Queen'!"

All this wasn't helping Robin to feel more relaxed. He just listened as Trish, his mother, and Linda discussed what kind of hairstyles the three wanted for tonight.

"Well, Trish and Robin will be wearing identical formals this evening," explained Mrs. Wilkes, going on to describe their planned outfits. Linda looked over the two siblings, feeling the texture of Robin's hair and studying its length.

Finally Linda said, "Hmmm, very nice. Robin needs the ends trimmed up a little to even them out, but I like the length. Since this is a formal affair, what if I do the girls' hair in a kind of soft French Twist in back, with curls over the bangs and at the temples. Maybe some nice rhinestone combs at the back would look nice."

Robin cringed when he noticed her reference to him and Trish as "girls". He still wasn't sure he should be doing this despite his family's encouragement.

His mother replied, "Oh, that would be lovely. Maybe I can watch how you do it, so that I can do it for them at home in the future." Robin caught that reference to the future.

Linda decided to take Trish first, then Robin, and finally Mrs. Wilkes.

"I'll get all three of you set and under the dryers, then I'll do your nails.

For the next 20 minutes or so, Robin watched with rapt attention at the 'beautifying' process his sister was going through. He realized that he would soon be undergoing the same! Linda chattered on about all kinds of girl things as she worked.

After the shampoo and conditioning, Linda did a little trimming of the ends making "it the same as Robin's". Next she sprayed some kind of lotion on Trish's hair, then combed it through. Then with professional skill, Linda

TV FICTION CLASSICS-35 sectioned and rolled Trish's hair on medium rollers. She explained to Mrs. Wilkes something called 'the setting pattern' she was using.

Robin figured out she meant how she was positioning the rollers. Finally, with every hair neatly wound on a curler, a pink hair net was placed on Trish's head and she was shown to one of the three hair dryers in the salon.

"Next," Linda called, smiling at Robin. He got up and moved to the chair, again with some apprehension. He watched in the mirror as he went through the same process that Trish had just gone through. When Mrs. Wilkes told Linda that Robin had been wearing dresses while working at the shop, Linda exclaimed, "How fun! I'll show you a few easy styles for everyday wear." Robin blushed and started an explanation that this was only for the holiday rush but restrained himself. It just seemed fruitless. Linda knew already that he was a sissy, he would only be arguing the degree.

Linda made several remarks to Mrs. Wilkes about how she could vary Robin's setting pattern for variations on the style for different occasions. The added, "Robin, you should learn to do this yourself."

He soon found himself under the dryer beside his sister. He again watched as Linda set his mother's hair. His mother had much shorter hair than either of her children!

Once the mother was under the last dryer, Linda moved in front of Robin with a small table and chair. The table was covered with many bottles of colorful nail polish. Taking one hand at a time, Linda pushed back and trimmed all his cuticles. This included a soaking in some sort of warm liquid. It made Robin recall those TV commercials where "Madge" would tell her manicure customer that their nails were soaking in dishwashing detergent.

Linda commented, "My, your nails are certainly getting long. They're at least a good quarter inch past the ends of each finger and very healthy." This length was filed into a smooth oval by Linda, then each nail was coated with a clear 'base coat'. She went to work on Trish for a few minutes while this base coat dried. She then returned to Robin and coated each of his nails with a