Twin Tales (6 page)

‘Would you like to mess about with our make-up, darling? You'd look so cute with a little lipstick and eyeshadow.'

‘Look, will you stop this nonsense!' Mum shouted. ‘You can't come bursting into my house and taking over my daughter like this. I'm Connie's mum and that's my make-up and that's my best evening dress you're wearing. And I don't know how, but
you're
wearing it, too. So both of you, take it off!'

‘But it doesn't fit
you
any more, does it?'

‘You've got
much
too fat.'

‘
We
stick to our diet and fitness programme.'

‘Cottage cheese and celery sticks and aerobics every day!'

‘Am I going to have to eat cottage cheese and celery too?' said Connie, smearing blue eyeshadow on her lids and then blinking up at her new twin mums.

‘Of course not, sweetheart. You're a growing girl. We'll cook you your favourite spaghetti bolognese every day, and you can have strawberry pavlova for pudding. Your old mum only gives you that on your birthday, doesn't she?'

‘Look, I'm worn out and rushed off my feet at the moment. I haven't got time to cook,' said Mum, miserably.

‘We
make
time. And we're much much much busier than you.'

‘That's right. We go out to work. We have our own office and we earn lots of money.'

‘So did I, once. But the twins are so little, they need me at home,' said Mum. ‘And Connie needs me too, don't you, Connie?' She looked at Connie rather desperately.

‘Of course I need you, Mum,' said Connie, putting a lipstick smile on her face.

‘But she needs us more. You can't be in two places at once. We can. One of us can go out to work and one of us can stay home and chat to Connie, easy peasy.'

‘Those babies are bawling downstairs. You'd better go and see what they want now.'

The twin mums took hold of her and turned her towards the door.

‘But what does Connie want?' said Mum, struggling.

‘I want you, Mum,' said Connie, and she pushed past the two twin mums and pulled her own mum free of them.

They cuddled up close on Connie's bed and they didn't even notice the twin mothers sliding out of the door.

8. Best Friends

‘I don't think I'm ever going to squeeze into this again,' said Mum, sighing. She'd found her own sparkly evening dress at the back of her wardrobe and was holding it up against herself. ‘You might as well have it for dressing up, Connie,' said Mum, handing it to her.

‘Oh, Mum! Really? Wow!' said Connie, jumping up and down.

‘And I'll find you some of my make-up – just the old bits and pieces, mind, not any of my good stuff – and we can make you up properly if you want. You look like a clown at the moment,' said Mum, rubbing at Connie's face with a tissue.

Connie pulled on Mum's frock over her T-shirt and perched on a chair while Mum started fussing around her, pretending to be a lady in a beauty salon.

‘What colour eyeshadow would Madam like?' Mum asked, but as Connie was choosing there was a cry from downstairs. Then another.

Mum looked at Connie. Connie looked at Mum.

‘Well, they'll just have to cry for five minutes. We're busy,' said Mum.

She made up one of Connie's eyes very carefully, while the crying continued downstairs.

‘It's okay, Mum. I'll do the other one,' said Connie. ‘You'd better go and feed the twins again.'

‘They're going to get as fat as elephants at this rate,' said Mum. ‘They'll be growing trunks and trumpeting next. Sorry to interrupt the game, Connie. Here, tell you what – why don't you phone Karen and ask her to come round and play dressing up with you?'

‘Oh yes,' said Connie. And then she remembered. ‘Oh no,' she said instead.

‘What's up?' said Mum.

‘Karen and I aren't friends any more,' said Connie.

‘Well, why don't you phone her up and make friends?' said Mum.

‘I'm not sure she likes me any more. And anyway, she's probably playing round at that awful Angela's,' said Connie. ‘She wants to be her friend now.'

‘Why can't you all be friends?' said Mum.

Connie raised her newly painted eyebrow expressively.

But she rang Karen all the same. She felt shy and squirmy inside at first, as if Karen was a stranger.

‘Do you want to come round to my house to play?' she blurted out. She was worried Karen might say no or make some excuse. But Karen seemed quite happy about the idea, thank goodness.

‘Bring some dressing-up clothes and some of your mum's old make-up,' said Connie. She was about to hang up the phone. She hesitated. ‘And you can bring Angela, too, if you really want.'

‘She's gone off to her ballet class. She's a bit miffed with me, actually. I accidentally kicked her when I was copying one of those twiddly things she does with her leg stuck out, and she didn't half carry on about it. I think she takes all that dancing stuff far too seriously.'

Karen only lived ten minutes' walk away so she and Connie were soon playing dressing-up. They didn't take it seriously at all. They strutted around in long frocks and smiled silly smiles and shrieked with laughter at each other's antics. It didn't matter about making a noise because the twins were awake anyway, being fed and changed.

‘Can I have a quick look at them?' asked Karen, when it was time for her to go home.

She'd already seen the twins when they came straight from the hospital and had privately agreed with Connie that they didn't look a patch on her baby sister Susie.

But now when Karen saw Claire and Charles, temporarily pink and peaceful in Mum's arms, she seemed impressed.

‘Oh, don't they look sweet like that!' Karen whispered.

‘Sweet?' Connie whispered back, staring at her baby brother and sister.

‘You are lucky, Connie. I wish Susie had been twins,' said Karen. ‘Look at them, they're as good as gold. I thought you said they cried all the time.'

‘They do, don't they, Mum?' said Connie.

‘It certainly seems like it,' said Mum. ‘You're not good at all, are you, twins? You're big bad babies who bully us something rotten.'

Baby Claire and baby Charles blinked blue eyes, all innocence.

Karen laughed and said goodbye. ‘If you're late to school again tomorrow I'll wait for you,' said Karen. ‘I won't be Angela's partner again. I've gone off her.'

‘I was scared you might have gone off me,' said Connie. ‘We are still best friends, aren't we, Karen?'

‘You bet, bestest friends ever,' said Karen.

They linked little fingers and vowed that they would never break friends again.

9. Growly Bears

Dad was very late home. The car had broken down and he was in a bad mood because it was going to cost a lot of money to get it mended.

‘Karen's dad's got a new car,' said Connie.

‘ Well,
your
dad's got to make do with a very very old car,' said Dad, bitterly.