'Hmmm. You've certainly got the legs for it. Turn around.'
Mersiha turned on the spot. She knew Katherine was right – t she did have good legs, long and tanned and with small, neat ankles. Men had been turning to look at her legs since she was fourteen, especially in the summer when she wore shorts to school. Recently their gazes had been drifting higher too.
When it had first happened she'd been a little frightened and had tried to hide the signs of approaching womanhood under baggy pullovers and jeans. It had brought back memories of what had happened in Bosnia, how women had been raped and killed by men with guns, used and abused and then killed. She blocked the memories and admired the dress in the mirror. It made her look older, eighteen maybe. It was elegant, but it was fun, too.
She had a white linen jacket that would look just great over it, and it would be a terrific dress to dance in.
The young assistant hovered nearby and Katherine handed over her gold American Express card.
'Thanks, Katherine,' Mersiha said.
'Happy birthday,' Katherine responded. Mersiha kissed her lightly on the cheek. A baby's kiss.
Their next trip was to a shoe shop where Katherine bought her a pair of black high heels, then they had cappuccinos in a small coffee bar. 'Your father is going to love that dress,'
Katherine said.
'He can wear it if he wants,' Mersiha replied, giggling. They laughed together, and for a moment Mersiha felt that things were back the way they used to be. Before Mersiha knew Katherine's secret.
'You can wear that when we have your photograph taken,'
Katherine said. They walked arm in arm to the photographer's studio, a franchise operation at the far end of the mall between a pet store and an 'Everything For $1' outlet.
SeveM seats were occupied by women having their hair done and make-up applied. On the walls was a series of poster-size | glamour photographs – lots of big hair, shining eyes and soft skin. 'They're going to do that to me?' Mersiha said. 'I don't believe it.'
Katherine had made an appointment for eleven o'clock. A willowy blonde dressed all in black came out of a back room and began gushing over Mersiha, running her fingers through her hair and turning her chin from side to side. She introduced herself as Tanya, organised a cup of coffee for Katherine as she waited, and then whisked Mersiha off to a leather and chrome chair in front of a wash basin.
Tanya lifted Mersiha's hair to see what it would look like shorter, then piled it up high on her head. 'It would look really 1 great like this,' she said enthusiastically.
Mersiha shook her head. 'No. My dad likes it long.'
'It's your hair,' Tanya insisted.
'No,' Mersiha repeated.
If Tanya was offended by Mersiha's terseness, she didn't show it. 'Okay, okay, but what about these white hairs here?' She separated the small group of white hairs close to her parting. || 'They really are white, aren't they? They're not grey. I could cut them. Or dye them so they're not so obvious.'
'No,' Mersiha snapped, so vehemently that Tanya took a step back. Mersiha realised that she'd overreacted so she smiled as sweetly as she could. 'I like them just the way they are.'
Tanya was quick and efficient. She was only a few years older than Mersiha and she talked non-stop about the latest Hollywood gossip. She seemed to read nothing but the showbiz tabloids.
Mersiha let her chatter wash over her. She watched Katherine sit and read a copy of The New Yorker, taking a cigarette out and then seeing a 'no smoking' sign and replacing it.
'Your mom said you had a black dress you want to wear for the photographs,' Tanya said.
'Yeah, is that okay?'
'Sure, whatever you want. You can change in the back, then we'll do your makeup.'
Mersiha took the dress from Katherine and put it on in a changing room at the back of the store. She admired it again in a full-length mirror, sliding her hands down her hips where it clung like a second skin. 'This is one hot dress,' she murmured to herself, then felt her cheeks redden as she realised what she was doing. She'd never had a boyfriend, she'd never even been kissed by anyone other than relatives, and here she was flirting and pouting with her own reflection. It wasn't that she didn't like boys. Like the rest of the girls at school she spent hours talking about them, watching them, rating them, but unlike most of her contemporaries she'd never actually been out with one. She'd been asked, several times, but something had always held her back. It didn't need a psychiatrist to explain why. She shuddered as the memories of what had happened to her in Bosnia flooded back. The hatred, the violence, the pain. All of it caused by men, men with lust in their eyes. It was the lust which Mersiha feared more than anything. She was about to remove the dress and put it back in the bag when Tanya stuck her head into the changing room.
'Wow! That's lovely,' Tanya said. 'It looks amazing on you.'
The two girls went back into the salon and Mersiha sat down in front of the mirror.
Tanya dabbed moisturiser on Mersiha's face, then picked up a pair of tweezers. Mersiha moved her head back instinctively and Tanya smiled. 'I'm going to tidy your eyebrows. I promise not to touch the white hairs.'
Tanya plucked a few stray hairs from Mersiha's eyebrows.
'You've got terrific skin,' she said. She paused. 'How old are you?'
'Fifteen,' Mersiha answered. 'Well, almost sixteen.'
'Have you got a boyfriend?'
'No. Not yet.'
Tanya made a whistling sound through pursed lips. 'Well, you're not going to have any trouble getting one, I can tell you.
They'll be around you like flies.'
'Thanks,' Mersiha said, unconvinced.
Tanya applied foundation and Mersiha felt it tighten her skin, as if a mask were being stretched across her face. Then she applied blusher with a thick brush. Katherine came up behind Mersiha and touched her lightly on the shoulder. 'I need a cigarette, kiddo, I'll be outside,' she said.
'Okay.' Mersiha studied her face in the mirror. The blusher had emphasised her cheekbones, giving her a severe appearance.
She looked older already. Tanya picked up a sky-blue pencil and Mersiha watched as she worked on her eyes, opening them one at a time to follow what was going on.
'And now, ta-da, mascara. Every girl thinks she knows how to put this on, but there's a right way and a wrong way.' Tanya pulled a mascara brush out of its tube. 'Brush from the roots to the tips, upper lashes first on both eyes, then lower. Your lashes are really long, so you should hold a rolled tissue underneath so that you don't get it on your skin. Then do the upper lashes again.' Tanya held a piece of tissue under each eye as she worked on them.
Then she selected a tube of pink lipstick and showed it to Mersiha. 'This shade will look really good.' Mersiha watched carefully in the mirror. When Tanya had finished, she unpinned Mersiha's hair, brushed it out, and stood back. 'What do you think?' she asked.
Mersiha sat staring at her reflection, stunned. The face that looked back was almost that of a stranger. She'd never seen herself looking so pretty. 'Wow,' she said softly.
'Pretty neat, huh?'
'Wow,' Mersiha repeated. She pursed her lips a little. The way Tanya had painted them made them seem fuller. Sexier.
She turned her head to the side. Her eyes seemed bigger and brighter and the blusher on her cheekbones made her face seem narrower. The foundation looked, and felt, strange, like a mask.
Without thinking, she lifted a hand to touch it, but she drew it back, not wanting to spoil the effect. 'It's almost too much,' she said.
Tanya nodded. 'Oh, yeah, of course it is. What I've done is full photographic make-up. You'd use a bit less if you were going out at night, and a lot less for daytime. Experiment a bit. You'll soon get the hang of it.'
The stylist turned the chair away from the mirror. Katherine came back into the store as Mersiha stood up. 'Kiddo, you look fantastic,' she gushed. She smiled at Tanya. 'You've done a terrific job.' Katherine ran the back of her hand against Mersiha's hair. 'It's strange – you need make-up to look older, I have to use even more to try to look younger.'