‘What if we took the sleeves out,’ said Lisa, ‘could we do that?’
‘Well, we could,’ said her mother. ‘But then you’d have to have some facings. Well, I suppose I could just put some binding around. That might be all right, no one would notice.’
Lisa sat down and unpicked the sleeves, and her mother found some bias binding and sewed it around the armholes. Lisa put the frock on again.
It was the frock her mother had made for her to wear to the end-of-term dance at school; it was white broderie anglaise, with a gathered skirt and—now no longer—puffed sleeves. Lisa looked at herself in the mirror.
‘If we let it down,’ she said, ‘don’t you think that would be better?’
‘Oh, you want it long, do you?’ asked her mother.
‘No, just longer,’ said Lisa.
She took it off and looked at the hem. There was a good five inches; her mother had never forsaken the habit of making large hems in all her frocks, as for a child. Her mother unpicked the hem.
‘I’m afraid there’ll be a mark,’ she said. ‘I’d better wash it.’
It was almost dry by the evening, and Lisa ironed it and tried it on again.
‘Well, it certainly looks more grown up,’ said her mother. ‘It looks very nice.’
‘I think it needs a belt,’ said Lisa. ‘I could buy one tomorrow in my lunch hour. I might get a silver one.’
‘Oh, that would be lovely,’ said her mother. ‘You’ll look really nice in that with a silver belt, and your white sandals with the heels.’
‘Oh, yes, it’ll do,’ said Lisa. ‘It’s only a party, it’s not a grande fête.’
‘It’ll be lovely,’ said her mother. ‘You’re very lucky at your age to be going to a party with grown-ups. You mind you behave nicely. Magda’s very kind to ask you.’
‘And Stefan,’ said Lisa.
‘Yes, and Stefan too,’ said her mother.
I wonder what it’ll be like, thought Fay. I wonder what her flat is like. Is it posh? Magda had written the address for her on a slip of paper. Mosman: I don’t know anyone else who lives in Mosman, thought Fay. A lot of those Continentals live over there. The flat is probably all done in modern: Continentals often seem to go in for modern. What will I wear?
She took out all the possibles and looked at them, wondering which might make the best impression on a Continental, someone who liked modern things. Well, I’ll wear the green and white striped, she thought. That’s the newest. She was very apprehensive: I wonder why she asked me, she thought. Magda, whose husband was called Stefan, and all their Continental friends. Will anyone want to talk to me? They’re probably all old, anyway. Well, at least it’s something different: I can go home early if I don’t enjoy it. If at first…anyway, I’ll just set my hair and do my nails now, and then I’ll be all ready for tomorrow night. It’ll make a change, at any rate. Try again. Oh God.