He was the sort of man who never went out, whether to Mass, to feed the birds, or to buy a newspaper, without wearing a tie. Petra sat on her parents’ bed and watched her father filing his nails. He was waiting for Petra’s mother, who was in the bathroom putting the final touches to her make-up. Petra liked watching her father, he did everything with the same careful attention. When he was through you always knew it for he would nod once and say ‘there!’ sounding very pleased.
Petra’s mother and father had been planning this afternoon for a month now. They were going for a drive in the country and then to have lunch at an inn. They were going with their friends, Mr. And Mrs. Dowling, who were thinking of buying the inn. Petra’s mother said this was a good ‘investment’, and Petra’s father had agreed, but Petra didn’t think he meant it. He usually agreed with her mother though, saying that she had a ‘good head for sums’ and laughing. Petra wondered why it was so funny to have a good head for sums. Her mother liked money, she guessed.
-There! her father said, putting away the nail file and smiling at her, slapping his hands down firmly on his knees.
-Almost ready, her mother said through the bathroom door.
-is Nora here yet?
-I don’t think so, dear, her father answered, Nicola’s downstairs, she’ll let her in.
Nicola was Petra’s older sister and Nora was Nicola’s friend. They were in the same grade at school. They were going to go shopping when Nora came. Petra’s mother had made them promise to behave and not stay out too late and had made Nicola lock and unlock the front door while she watched. Her father had smiled and said that Nicola was eleven years old, and a level-headed girl, there was no need to worry. Petra loved and admired her sister. She liked her as well, and tried to imitate the things she did that made her seem grown-up. Nicola thought this was dumb and said if Petra wanted to be like her then she would want to be like Jacqueline Bisset and Barbara Stanwyck, her favorite actresses. Petra considered this carefully and decided she liked Nicola better.
After their parents had gone Nicola and Petra waited for Nora in the downstairs hall. While Nicola tried on different berets in front of the mirror Petra sat at the little desk where the phone books were kept, drinking a Coke. She liked watching her sister as much as watching her father. Nicola was so pretty, with her thick, shiny blond hair, the curls that dangled to her shoulders and her dark brown eyes. Nicola thought her lips were too big and her nose too small (it made her look snotty, which she didn’t think she was) but Petra thought they were just right. Petra was blue-eyed and dark-haired, which she guessed was all right.
When they heard Nora coming up the front steps Petra ran into the kitchen to put her glass in the sink. When she came back Nicola and Nora were already outside.
-Hurry up, Nicola said, waving to her sister.
As Nicola locked up Nora told Petra what they were going to do.
-We’ll go to Burnham Mall and window-shop and hang out. I want to get a present for Nina. She’ll be eighteen on Thursday.
Nora was very bossy but Petra didn’t mind. She was Nicola’s best friend. Nina was Nora’s sister. She had been living away from home for two years now and she had her own job and apartment. She had left school because she was in trouble. Miss Prentiss, the gym teacher, had caught her smoking pot with two older boys on the school grounds. Nicola said that she didn’t think she would ever smoke pot but she didn’t think it was such a terrible thing if other people wanted to. She also said that it wasn’t true that Nina had had a baby, though Nora said that Nina slept with boys sometimes. Nora liked Nicola because she stuck up for her at school even though Nicola was a good student and Nora wasn’t. Nora was very pretty and even more grown-up than Nicola. Petra had overheard her mother telling her father that Nora would get in trouble because of her looks, which seemed to mean she would get her own job and apartment and not have to go to school.
The three girls walked down to the corner and turned towards the bridge that crossed the canal. Burnham Mall was one block beyond the bridge. When they got to the bridge Nora said that they should walk down along the railing which was only a few feet from the water. She had something she wanted to show them. When they got to the railing Nora took from her pocket a single cigarette.
-My mom’s boyfriend left them on the kitchen table, Nora giggled, and covered her mouth.
-I’m going to smoke it, she said, taking a matchbook from the same pocket.
-Okay, Nicola said, but I don’t think Petra should.
-What if she wants to? Nora asked, twisting a match carefully from the book.
-Do you want to? Nicola asked, looking at her sister.
-I don’t think so. Are you going to smoke it, Nicola?
-Yes, if Nora does.
Petra watched as Nora puffed at the cigarette. She did look pretty cool. Would Nicola look cool? Last week three boys in Petra’s class had been sent home because they had been smoking. They had tried to cover it up with aftershave but Miss Machlin caught them anyway. Nicola took a puff and blew the smoke out. She made a funny face and they all laughed. Petra was impressed. Nicola hadn’t choked or coughed the way they did on TV. It was sort of boring just to watch though.
The two older girls traded the cigarette back and forth for a while and then Nicola said she didn’t want anymore. So they walked on across the canal and to the mall. Nicola wanted to look at clothes and Nora said okay, but only if they went to the record store too.
While Petra followed Nicola through the stockings and brassieres, Nora went to try on all the perfume samples. The store was very crowded this Saturday so the clerks ignored them. Petra didn’t care that much about clothes but she didn’t get bored because Nicola always said such funny things. Nicola was always polite and would never say how gross or pukey something was if someone else was looking at it. Instead she would make a face and Petra would smile, knowing what she was thinking. When Nicola was older she wanted to have a lot of different shoes and different-colored stockings and black panties like they wore in the R-rated movies that their mother watched on TV.
They found Nora already waiting outside, sitting on a bench in the little cobblestoned square which was at the center of the mall. They sat down next to her. Nora wasn’t sure if she wanted to go look at records or not.
-That’s where Stevie Cowan works, isn’t it? Nicola asked, pursing her lips at her friend.
Stevie Cowan was an older boy who had been in their school several years earlier.
Nora shrugged to her friend’s smile and frowned.
-Debbie told me that he likes Angie Jenkins anyway, Nora said.
-Oh, Nora, Nicola said, shoving Nora’s arm, everybody likes Angie Jenkins. But I bet Stevie doesn’t want her to be his girlfriend. He just wants to screw her.
Nora lowered her voice.
-I’d let Stevie screw me, she said.
Petra laughed and Nora made a face at her.
-Oh, but Petra doesn’t want anybody to screw her, she mocked.
-Well, I wouldn’t want Stevie to screw me either, Nicola said, looking serious.
-but maybe if it was James Poley.
-Nicola, he’s almost as old as Nina! Nora said, shocked.
-Yeah, and he’s a lot cuter than any of the boys I know, Nicola giggled and Nora giggled too.
Petra listened in silence while Nora and her sister talked about boys. But she was only half listening. Petra knew what screwing was. Nicola had explained it to her one day with help from Nora, who knew all the real words for things and a lot of the nasty ones too. Petra wasn’t sure what she thought about it. She hardly ever talked about it with the girlfriends in her own class so she always listened to Nicola and Nora. But she lost interest when their talk turned to boys they knew. Sometimes she could really imagine doing it but somehow it wasn’t ever with David, or Terence, or even Spencer, but instead with some strange boy. Dark, almost foreign-looking though she could never see him very clearly. He was older than her, Petra knew that for certain. She had first really imagined doing it the day after school when Dennis Silvestri had shown her and Nicola and some of the other girls his older brother’s magazine. Petra wished she could have looked at the pictures more carefully, by herself, without even Nicola. They had made her feel strange, most of the ladies were sort of fat and the men were dirty-looking even though they were all shaved. Petra looked up. Nora and Nicola were staring at her.
-I think we’re boring your little sister, Nora said. She often said things like that about Petra but she wasn’t ever really mean.
-Look what I found, Nora said suddenly, her hand under her sweater. She pulled out a silk scarf, shiny blue and silver with little black Eiffel towers all down the center. Nora held it out to them and they ran their fingers through it, feeling the smooth, cool material.
-You’re gonna get caught one day, Nicola said calmly, still fingering the scarf.
-No, I’m not. I know what I’m doing. Do you think Nina will like it?
The two sisters nodded. It was beautiful.
They decided they would window-shop their way around the rest of the mall and then start home. As they walked along Petra thought about Nora and the scarf. Nora was always taking things from stores. Nice things, like the scarf, or perfume, or even records once. Petra thought of the shoebox in her closet at home. Last Christmas she had stolen something form the gift store on Dunstan Street. A little purple velvet monkey with a key in his back, that, when wound up, played a song while he bounced around on his bottom. Petra had taken it just to show Nora that she wasn’t such a scaredy cat. But as they walked back through the snow down Dunstan Street Petra had known she wouldn’t show it to either Nora or Nicola. Nora would have made fun of her for stealing ‘baby stuff’. She would have laughed and asked what was so neat about a silly toy monkey. But worse than that, what would her sister have said? So the little monkey had stayed in the shoebox with the other stuff that Petra only looked at when no one was around.
When they got to the canal bridge Nora made them stop until they decided what to do next.
-What do you feel like doing? Nicola asked them.
-I don’t care, Petra said.
-Well, I’m kinda hungry, Nora said.
-Okay, Nicola said, let’s go back to our house and see what’s in the fridge and watch TV.
As they walked on, Petra watched her sister. Nicola was playing with the scarf, holding it to her cheek and letting it slide down, laughing at the tickles it made on her skin. Petra decided that when they were alone that night that she would make Nicola promise not to let any boys screw her. Not for a while anyway. Not till they were more grown-up.