FICTION

COSTUME BALL

Renee-Canada

Every summer, at the end of July, it is a rule for the girls spending the summer in the area, to organize a ball to celebrate mid-summer. It is usually a costume ball held at the dance hall near the lake.

I must tell you of the one we had last summer, because it was the one during which I had the most fun. We girls had formed a committee to discuss the arrangements for that night. The boys did not bother to do anything about it. Everything was left to us girls. After the date was chosen, we began to speak of the costumes we were going to wear.

Every year we have a theme for the event. Once it was a Mexican fiesta, another time a limbo contest with West-Indies' costumes, etc. This time, we decided that everyone would wear the costume she wanted to, and as the boys had nothing to say about it, the girls chose the cos- tumes they wanted to wear and then told the boys what costume to get to match theirs.

While we were discussing our costumes, each told the others of her choice so there would not be two costumes alike. One girl opted for a nurse's uniform, another one for a saloon girl's dress of the western movies. I wanted to wear a Spanish dancer's outfit.

At the same time we decided how our escorts should be dressed. The girl with the nurse's uniform decided her escort should wear a doctor's white jacket. The saloon girl wanted her boy friend to be a cowboy for the occasion. We all agreed on the choice of the other girls, but when it came to my turn, some objections arose. I wanted a toreador ensemble for my partner, but the girls suggested, that since I was taller and slimmer than he, I should wear the toreador costume myself and let the boy be the Spanish dancer.

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