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I watched with fascination as she began to experiment with different makeup, coloring her eyebrows and then putting something on her eyelashes to make them look longer. She rubbed some cream into her cheeks and under her mouth. Then she wiped it off and tested three different lipstick colors, studying the effect each had on her appearance.

"What's she doing now?" Elliot asked from behind.

"Makeup," I said.

"Boring," he said rising. I looked through the hole again. It was far from boring to me. I hadn't seen this since Mommy used to do it, but she hadn't for so long.

Finally. Betsy rose and then turned and looked at herself in the mirror. She cupped her own large breasts and stared at her image in the mirror. Then she went to her closet and retrieved some blouses, trying on each and studying how she looked,

"She playing with herself?" Elliot asked.

"She's trying on clothes." I said.

He groaned.

"She'll do that for hours. Forget it." he said.

I hesitated to pull back. I wanted to see every fashion, every article of clothing.

"Hey," Elliot said. "C'mon. You got more than an eyeful and my father will be coming home soon."

Reluctantly, I pulled back.

"It get you excited enough?" Elliot asked.

I didn't respond. Instead, I started out of his room. urging Cleo to follow.

"Now you'll appreciate Roberta Beckman." he told me as we descended the stairs. "I'm going to arrange it all for Saturday night, okay?"

"I don't know." I said.

"Whaddya mean? We had a deal. You don't welsh on a deal," he said sharply.

"My mother might not let me come here."

"Do what you did tonight. Just sneak over. I know you can do it. Noble, so don't give me any grief." he said, his eyes small and threatening.

"I'll see," I said and opened the door. He followed Cleo and me out.

"You better be here. Noble," he called. "Don't make me look stupid and ruin my chances with Harmony. I won't forget it if you do," he shouted as I crossed toward the woods.

When I reached the woods. I broke into a trot and then ran all the way home. I took off my shoes. cleaned Cleo, and then washed my hands. It was very quiet inside the house. so I imagined Mommy was still in a very deep sleep, but as I walked down the hallway. I saw she had risen and come downstairs, where she had fallen asleep again in her great-grandad Jordan's chair. I stood in the doorway and looked at her, waiting to see if she would wake. She didn't, so I went upstairs, but instead of going directly to my room, I continued down the upstairs hallway to hers.

Practically tiptoeing, I entered her room and went to her vanity table. So much of her makeup, lipsticks, and creams had been untouched for so long, but seeing Betsy at her vanity table filled me with new interest. I sat and gazed at myself in the mirror. My eyebrows were too thick. How I wished they were as trim as Betsy's were.

Only once before. when I was very little, had I put on lipstick. Noble and I were playing house. and I was to be the mother. I messed it up terribly. but Mommy wasn't angry at me. She laughed and called Daddy, who looked at me and went into hysterics.

Slowly, I opened one of her lipstick tubes. It looked all right. so I brought it to my lips and carefully traced along, pressing my lips together and then patting them the way I had seen Betsy do it in her room. The sight of bright red lips on my face made me smile. Encouraged. I opened one of the jars of cream and began to rub it into my cheeks and under my lower lip, around my chin. My fingers were rough against my face. so I had to rub very gently.

After that. I opened one of the cakes of makeup and began to experiment with color the way I saw Betsy do it. Once I finished that. I found an eyelash brush and started to darken mine. I was nearly finished doing that when I heard Mommy's shrill scream, I had been so involved in it all, I hadn't heard her coming up the stairway.

"What are you doing?" she shouted, rushing to me and ripping the eyelash brush out of my hands. She gazed down at me, her eyes wide. "What are you doing?"

She reached for a towel and, with her left hand holding the back of my head, roughly began to wipe off the lipstick and the makeup, practically tearing my skin off my skull with the fierce effort.

"I was just.. just--"

"You're contaminated." she said. "You're possessed. Get to your room this instant." she ordered. and I rose quickly and went to my bedroom. "Get undressed and go to bed." she said. She nodded at me. "This will take time." she added, and then she stepped out and closed the door.