"I concede the point. However, we have work to do. What time is it? is there a telephone around here?"

"Down in the hall

I answered.

"Be back in a jiffy." she said as she went out the door.

from the

While she was gone, I looked at my image. Very strange neck down I looked very much the part, and if I half-closed my eyes, I could see possibilities for the rest.

While I daydreamed, Beth came back. "Hey! Come on we've just got time."

"For what?"

"Just in time to make the beauty parlor."

"The what?" I asked non-plussed.

"B-e-a-u-t-y p-a-r-l-o-r." she said, "and hurry. Take off that dress and put on a blouse and skirt, anything a little less dressy. Come on. Cynthia will only wait a little while."

I obeyed even as I protested. "But I can't go out like this" my voice was smothered as I pulled the dress over my head. "I mean, I just can't walk out like this" as I zipped up the skirt.

"Sit down." she ordered. Even as she spoke, Beth pulled open her large purse and took out a handful of rollers and a scarf. She quickly pinned the rollers across the top of my own hair and tied the scarf over them. "There. You look like 95% of the girls now. And with a little lip- stick like so - Voila! Let's go!"

—

I stumbled down the stairs behind her, protesting. Just before we actually went onto the street she stopped short. "Oops! You haven't a purse, have you? No matter here, carry my billfold. Now just relax and walk. Nobody will notice anything." I would have probably felt immeasurably better if I had not seen my landlady in the split-second before we closed the door.

Once outside, the terror of it all kept me from dwelling on that. Somehow we walked the five blocks to the beauty shop. By the end of