The four young men in the family room had been staying before, and it wasn't long before they came to talk to us every afternoon after work. They were very pleasant, and we had a lot of laughs, but then Anna, who had become quite bored and restless, one night asked them to take her with them to where-ever they went every night after they visited us, and I giggled uncontrolably at the different expressions on this youngsters's faces. It ranged from utter horror to unbelievingness, and the reasons why they couldn't take her that night was so mixed up and incoherent that even I as an outsider couldn't make out head or tail! But Anna was adamant, and after a lot of excuses they capitulated, never having had a chance anyway, and with faces like they just had news of a death in the family, they said yes, ok, they will take her the next night, before they fled like a mouse from a cat. Anna was ecstatic!
The next afternoon at one Anna was already soaking in the only bath in the house, as she couldn't do it after two for fear of the guests arriving and she in their bath! After the bath she scared me to death when she came into the sittingroom with her black, tightly curling hair standing wildly around a spooky white, thickly masqued face! After lounging on the sofa for a while she rinsed off the masque, then put two cucumber slices on her eyes and lay on the couch for another almost hour, before starting to put her hair in electric curlers.
In the meantime I had to book the guests in and make them comfortable, as she was in no fit state to do anything. Then her false nails were pepped up, her body perfumed with 'Moon and Stars', a quite heavy perfume, before she started on the make-up. The base were put on lavishly to hide all the wrinkles, then the eyes were tackled, and a few different blues were skillfully applied before she got hold of the kohl pencil which she used overlavishly to blacken the top and bottoms of her eyelids, and of course then came the mascara, the kind that makes your lashes look longer! Lastly, after scrutinising every bit of her face intently, the rouge were applied with a heavy hand! She looked twenty years older than without all this make-up, but if I dared saying something, she would have attacked me!
I gasped when she pulled a small little top, good for a bally toddler, over her head, and then put on a pair of black jeans that was so small she lay on the sofa to fasten the zip. I have never seen the top, and thought that while I was doing the work, she must have slipped out and bought it. It was a shiny and very revealing affair, and I realised that she was only trying to fit in with the youngsters.
I saw from the kitchen window when the men came back from work, but instead of looking at the house and waving like every night, they almost creeped around the corner, not looking left or right.
Anna was ready at seven, for eight when they would fetch her, and I almost cried at the sight of this fun loving woman who could not believe that she was no teenager anymore, but I also felt sorry for the youngsters who was co-erced into taking this middle-aged woman on a night out!
I was cooking my dinner when I saw a movement outside the family room, and on closer inspection realised that it was the youngsters, but I couldn't make out what they were doing. Anna was sitting bolt upright, waiting, but after I finished eating my dinner, I realised that it was now almost ten minutes past eight. Anna sat waiting! Then it was half past eight, then nine struck, and even Anna who still sat so hopefully waiting, had to accept the fact that her escorts were not coming for her. She was actually still hopefull, and said that as she had never saw them came in, they must be working late! They never came, and I felt so sorry for her that I asked her to go with me to the pub for a drink!
The next morning I looked out to see what the youngsters were doing outside, and laughed at their audacity! They had put a towel over the light, one of those that came on when it picks up movement, and sneaked out under cover of the darkness!
I was sad, as they never came to visit us again, just walked by the window without looking and greeting us, but Anna hated them. I never told her about the towel!