Part 7

I asked about the Mythral gowns and he said that items being shown in the window are there to attract a particular customer and are not for sale.

The window was bare today because I had been granted a rare second visit and there was nothing he could show me that I needed at the moment.

Sarah wanted to know if it was the disc that caused our happiness yesterday.

“What you were feeling yesterday was generated by the moment. The disc was re-awakened by the love between the two of you sisters; and I have to say that you are true sisters now, in both looks and temperament. The love you generated yesterday has fuelled the disc in double time. I expect it to be still for a few days but may get warm again when there is love around you again. The song was right, you know, it’s possible to ‘feed off luuurve.”

He showed us out and, when we looked back, the row of dilapidated shops were back to normal.

“Well, that’s a strange way to start the week!” said Sarah, as we linked arms again to finally reach the station.

It was just a few minutes wait for the train and we headed into the city. We got seats and were heading into town when I felt the disc vibrate. I looked around me to see what had woken it up this morning. Across from us were a couple of older men and a lady with a shopping trolley.

Further down on that same side were a trio of louts. I knew that we would be at a station in a couple of minutes which is the optimum time for a bag snatch. Just as I thought, one of them made to leap up and grab our bags but was standing on a loose lace from his sneaker.

As he went to leap at our bags he found he couldn’t move and fell flat on his face, stunning him. His pals were about to follow him and impede our chase as we started to slow for the station.

I gave them the fingers pointing at my eyes and then pointing at them and they went very pale, grabbed their friend and raced out of the train just before the doors closed again.

Across the way, one of the old guys was crossing himself before getting up and moving down to the end of the carriage to find another seat.

“That’s odd,” I said, “What is he afraid of?”

Sarah laughed, “When you did ‘I’m lookin’at you’ gesture to those louts, your eyes glowed red just like in the horror movies. If I didn’t know you well I would need to have changed my panties. I’m sure the guy saw it as well and thinks you may be a demon or something. That will be something he can tell his priest next Sunday, ‘forgive me father for I saw a Devil last week’ would just not go down well in any church I have been in. If I thought the start of the day was odd, I hate to think how much odder it can get.”

Back in town we went to the shopping mall and I got Ed to look at the stitches above my eyebrow. He was amazed at how well it had healed and took the stitches out and just dabbing the place with some antiseptic.

He had a look at my ears as well and declared that the holes were closing remarkably quickly and when I poked my tongue out he said that this hole, one which is very likely to cause troubles, was almost closed as well. I bought some more girly studs from him and thanked him for his care and attention.

Next up was a phone shop where I bought a good smartphone on a pay-as-you-use plan and pre-paying fifty pounds worth. I was going through the cash but it was all in a good cause.

The guy in the shop was upset because I refused to buy extra ‘apps’ as I didn’t need to know my heart rate, walking pace, position in the world to the nearest inch or the time zones of upper Mongolia.

I also got him to remove the Farcebook app as well as the others that many can’t live without. I knew who I was, I knew my place in the world and, dammit, I just wanted to send and receive calls or texts.

We didn’t get Sarah one as hers was still good but she did get him to simplify it to the same specs as mine, which I thought will drop her bill costs. We did a little window shopping and I sent a text to David with my new phone number. Then it was time for the big reveal in the office.

Sarah was almost beside herself as many thought that I was a studded, tattooed thug that had been on testosterone and muscle builders. It was odd that Sam had been so much on the edge of the drug scene that she had not taken anything, waiting for the time she could get a double mastectomy and then taking all of the right things under supervision. She did have some brains there, at least.

We went up to the right floor and, before we got to reception, Sarah got me to go into the office first and see what the receptionist thought.

“Her name is Tina and she thinks she knows everything and everyone.”

I walked in, bold as brass and Tina said, “Hi Sarah, I thought you were bringing your thug sister to see us, did he get out of it?”

“No Tina, she’s right here in front of you. Sarah will be a couple of moments.”

The look on her face was priceless as my twin came in, “Got you there, Tina. That will teach you to listen to gossip. Actually, this showed just how observant you are as Samantha has much shorter hair.”

Tina blustered that she thought that Sarah had been and got hers cut as we went into the inner office where Sarah worked, bringing the place to a crashing silence for a few seconds before we were surrounded by all the girls, eager to know what had happened to ‘the lout’.

We were included in the group that went to lunch and we all chatted merrily as we ate. The others were happy to have seen me, especially as I was really the other twin and not the monster that the rumour mill had generated.

I had my sketchbook with me and sat back towards the end of the meal, drawing a picture of Sarah in the middle of the group and then added a ghostly monster vaguely in the background.

Sally, one of the managers, was looking over my shoulder as I sketched and asked me if she could have it to frame and put on Sarahs’ desk for the next day. She and I went off to the toilets together and I pulled the page from the book and gave it to her. At the mirror she was fussing with her make-up.

“Sally, I can see what your problem is, let me fix it for you. I do work in a salon as a stylist.”

It only took a few minutes to reline some of her features and extend the outline of her lipstick.

When she looked at herself she frowned, “Why couldn’t I see that?”She gave me a hug before we went back to the crowd who were getting ready to head back to the office.

Sarah and I stayed as the others left, promising that I would be a regular in the future.

Sarah sat back, “Well, that went well, didn’t it? The look on Tinas’ face was price-less, I would’ve liked to capture it”.

I pulled the sketchbook out of my bag and started drawing Tina at her desk, with the glazed look that she had at that time, the two of us standing side by side in front of her.

Now, this was the first time that Sarah had seen me sketch, every other time she had been busy with other things. She was amazed and enthralled as I nailed the look and the detail of the reception area.

“How do you do that?” she asked. “You were only there moments. Do you have a photographic memory as well?”

I told her that I could visualise things now and that my drawing was much more enhanced by the feeling of the moment.

She then asked, “Well, what about a subject that you have never seen, how would you go then?”

I thought for a few moments and started drawing. After ten minutes there was a picture of her in a long, flowing robe with a light behind her head. Her hand was outstretched to me, kneeling in front of her in a sack-like dress with my hands clasped in prayer and the disc hanging from my fingers on the chain. I did say that I wanted a picture of my angel to pray to every night, didn’t I?

She had tears messing up her mascara and we hugged. The café owner, who was coming around clearing the table, saw the picture and said that he would pay to have a picture of himself to put on the bar.

It took me twenty minutes to do one that did him justice and when I took it out of the book he asked me if I would sign it for him as well. He said he would get it framed for the next time we were in and insisted that I take the fifty he gave me, saying that it was a good buy as one of my originals could be worth thousands in a few years.

As we were back in the toilets repairing Sarah’s face, my phone rang and I heard David when I answered.

He told me that his secretary had just dropped a bomb on his deck. The company was in line for an award at a Building Industry Dinner on Saturday night and he wanted to know if Sarah and I could go with Roger and himself.

Sarah could hear what he was saying and nodded enthusiastically. I told him that we would love to and he said that they would pick us up in a limo at seven, Saturday evening.

Sarah asked where the function was going to be held and he said it was the Ritz and classed as a ‘white tie and tails’ event. He said that he and Roger would fund our dresses but not to send them to the poorhouse.

That afternoon we made sure that the Silvestri Sisters were going to be the ‘Belles of the Ball’.

Part 8

We needed to look like twins but able to be seen as individuals. Firstly Sarah phoned her usual salon in the city to see if they could do a hair extension job this afternoon and they said they could if we got there straight away.

We took a picture of her on my phone for the template and she left me there while she went off to find the right dresses, having more experience at the sort of do.

I sat in the chair while a very competent girl gave me longer hair, a bit longer than my sister’s at the moment but we were the same colour so it looked just like hers after it was trimmed.

When Sarah came back for me we stood together as the hair stylist took a couple of pictures for her portfolio. Except for the slight mark on my forehead and a small hole in my nose, we were now almost identical. She hustled me down the street and around the corner to a little boutique that you would have missed if you didn’t know it was there.

I had the thought that it should have been named B.R.U. as in Beauties rather than Spells.

She had found two identical style dresses but in different colours. One was a glorious, glowing ivory and the other was a very pale pink. She said that all the other women would be wearing rich colours and we would stand out as being elegant.

The sales lady, a real professional, agreed wholeheartedly. Sarah opted for the pink so we went off to change and I put on the ivory one. Looking at myself in the mirror I thought that I looked just like a bride.

“Sarah,” I called out, “You know that we’ll look like two brides with their grooms at the dinner?”

She laughed, “Now I know that you’ve changed, you’re thinking ahead like me.”

We did negotiate a discount by buying both dresses and promising to push the name of the boutique if asked on the night. Both were in a single bag and we took turns to carry it so the other could have both hands free as we then went to get perfect shoes, underwear and bags to suit.

By the time we got home we were loaded down and her cards had been given a severe shaking. We had kept the receipts so David and Roger could figure out how much they would pay. Their credibility would be reduced by every pound less than the total!

We had a light tea and listened to the radio for a while before opening up the box containing the coffee table as being, hopefully, the easiest to assemble. By ten we had it put together and decided that this would be enough for the day.

Tuesday was work for Sarah and also for me trying to assemble the vanity, something I achieved in just enough time for a sandwich before I rushed off to the salon. The girls complimented me on my new hair style and Ingrid was a bit put out that I had gone somewhere else until I explained that it was the salon where Sarah was a regular.

I told her that she would have the two of us to work on Saturday afternoon as we were going to an evening presentation at the Ritz.

That day and the working days up until Saturday were full on again and I was doing around a dozen make-overs a day, sometimes helping out with the other girls. Towards the end of the week we were getting a few of the older clientele coming in for a touch-up for the weekend and a couple were vocal about going to the Ritz on Saturday evening with their ‘management’ husbands.

I had to smile as, knowing the industry they were in, their husbands were probably brickies who had done well. No-one mentioned that the stylist would be there as well as you never upstage your good customers.

The disc sat quietly against my chest most of the time, just giving off a vibration when I started thinking unladylike thoughts as I struggled with the sideboard assembly.

I thought that we should mount the three Allan keys on a board and display them as a symbol of our perseverance.

Thursday evening Sarah came home with two sets of paste jewellery from her favourite outlet. I had to admit that they were very good. They were pairs of long pearl drops, one in each dress colour, as well as a pair of studs to match.

Sarah, up until now, had only the single piercing on her ears but had gone and got a second so that we matched there as well. On top of that were two necklaces and four bracelets to suit and even a pair of rings. I had the feeling that we were going to look like a pair of Disney princesses on the night.

Saturday I went off to work, leaving Sarah to tidy up in the flat and take the cardboards down to the container beside the tower. She told me that she would remove the couple of bags of ‘Sam stuff’ as well.

A bit after four she came into the salon and Ingrid did her hair into an up-do and I did her make-up. She then chatted with Jacquie while Ingrid did my hair in the same look and then I did my own make-up. We must have looked quite a sight as we strolled back to the tower, done up to the nines from the neck up.

We had a light snack and got stuck into the serious business of producing a pair of babes who were going to wow them on the red carpet. Although, being a builders’ do, I suspect that it would look more like the Yellow Brick Road.

We helped each other get into our dresses and ensured that every bit showed that we wanted to show and that those bits we hid away looked like they were about to peek out. One of the pearl bracelets was a bit longer and this went into our hair and, when we had finished off with a good spray of an expensive scent, we both felt as if we were ready for the BAFTAs, rather than the Builders.

Roger rang to tell us they were five minutes away and the looks on their faces as we came out to the limo was worth the whole effort. David was the one to ask which was which.

I said, “Does it really matter, darling?” He took me by the hand and told Roger the he got the pink one. They helped us into the limo and the driver had a smirk on his face as we drove off for our evening in the spotlights, or so we hoped.

At the Ritz it was as we expected, most of the other women were in vibrant colours and some looked like they were going on to a hooker’s convention afterwards.

The men, of course, were strictly controlled by the ‘white tie’ conventions so all looked a bit similar until you took in the hair, or lack of it, combined with the beard, or lack of it.

I started to categorise them by the eyebrow bushiness and the ear and nose sprouting; so many older men just don’t seem to care.

We were sat on a table for eight and the others were already seated when we extricated ourselves from the newspaper and official photographers.

Sarah had been absolutely right with her prediction and we stood head and shoulders over most of the women there with our style and elegance. I hoped that they would get the boutique into the copy if it got that far.

The others at our table were Davids' secretary / office manager and her husband and the others were his parents.

His father stood and hugged the two of us, saying to me “Now I know why he has been smiling all week.”

His mother also stood up and hugged me with the correct air kiss. She floored me by saying, “Welcome to the family, daughter.”

Over the entrée and main course I found out that this was the ‘Devine Builders’ table. I had known that David was David Devine and found out that his parents were David Senior and Annette.

Roger was Mr. Maldon and was a nephew of Annettes’, while the other two were Zoe and Zach Baker. He was an art teacher at the Uni. so the two of us had a bit of a discussion about our favourite artists.

After the mains there was a general exodus of the ladies to repair our faces. As I stood to leave the table I saw Mrs. Butcher done up to the nines, coming out from the official area by the stage, and her face was very furrowed.

She made a bee-line for the toilets and was standing by the mirrors looking at her phone when we went in. There was a queue for the cubicles so I went over to say hello.

I spoke to her and she couldn’t place me so I told her that I was Samantha and here with Sarah, my sister.

“My goodness, I just didn’t recognise you looking like a princess. Who are you here with?”

I said we were partners to David and Roger on the Devine table and she said “Those guys have always been behind the Industry Group, I am sure they will help me if you girls will.”

“So what do you want us to do?” I asked.

She showed me her phone which had a message on it saying, ‘Can’t make it, on way to hospital, appendix. Sonya.’

She said “Our presenter has let us down, in the old days we would have gone on, burst appendix or not. Can you, or better still, you and your sister do the trophy presentation if I talk to David and Annette about why I am taking you away from them for a while?”

I said we could as we had done something like that before and she rushed out of the toilet to see if she could get us a leave pass from our partners. I didn’t tell her that the last time we had presented prizes it was at High School sports trophies and we had been dressed as a pair of Saint Trinian’s sixth formers, all stockings and garters. That was before puberty and Sam starting to hate herself.

I rejoined Sarah in the line and said “We have to work for our meal tonight, but not in the way you are thinking, you naughty sister. We’ve been invited to be the celebrity award presenters and I said yes.”

She laughed, “Life has been a roller coaster this past couple of weeks and I think we’ll show them what the ‘Magnificent Silvestries’ are made of. I don’t think sugar and spice went anywhere near us when we were created.”

Marianne Gregory (C) 2022