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canvas sides bulged, as May struggled with her change of clothes. She was startled by a roll of drums, then an excited bark from Toby.
    Pomona’s head appeared through the side flap. ‘Hear that? Danny asked his dad if he could borrow his small drum kit! Paddy’s doing the “Roll up, roll up!” routine. Brigid, Brendan and Jenny have just arrived – and
Mum
’s in the front row! Hurry up, will you?’
    ‘She must have left just after we did,’ May said crossly. ‘All set for curtain up.…’
Fingers crossed
, she told herself.
    It was her best performance yet.
    Her friends hurried to congratulate her, while her mother and Carlos waited for the crowd to disperse. Jenny exchanged a few polite words with Carmen, and May guessed she was being nice toCarmen for her and Pomona’s sake. After they waved goodbye Carmen came over to the booth. ‘May, you have your father’s touch … it was good,’ she said.
    ‘Yes, it was good,’ agreed Carlos. ‘But you can learn much more.’
    Learn what? May was puzzled by his enigmatic remark, but she did not ask what he meant. It had unsettled her, Carmen turning up again like this. She recalled that Aunt Min had said to her father once that Carmen was devious. Curious, the younger May had looked up the meaning in her school dictionary.
Deceitful
, she read,
Clever at getting one’s own way in an underhand manner
.… She had the feeling that her mother was planning something, and that whatever it was, it would involve herself.

Six
    T HE FOLLOWING MORNING May and Pomona met Carmen outside the exclusive dress shop in the square. There were no puff sleeves on the stylish frocks draped on the plaster models in the window, the designs for younger woman were sleeveless. The simple shifts did not emphasize waist or bust, ensuring that the frocks were comfortable to wear as well as elegant. The materials were summer weight: georgette , silk or fine cotton. Rigid corsetry was a thing of the past. Women were emancipated, even if they hadn’t yet got the vote.
    ‘Well, May, do you like what you see?’ Carmen asked.
    ‘Oh, yes!’ May agreed.
    ‘Well, let us go inside – and Pomona, don’t touch anything, please, the assistant looks very superior!’
    Some of the frocks had patterned borders to the skirt. Others were striped or checked. Some had a bow loosely tied around the hips or at the neckline; there were no fussy collars. May chose a soft green material, with a poppy patterned border. There was a matching cloche hat, but as the assistant remarked: ‘You have far too much hair for this model! Now, if you were to have the new Eton crop—’
    ‘Certainly not!’ her mother cried. ‘Her hair is her Spanish heritage!’ May agreed: her father had loved her long hair. But she decided to have the Mary-Jane shoes, even though she was not keen on pointed toes.
    ‘What about me?’ Pomona asked plaintively, as the dress and shoes were parcelled up.
    ‘You will be back at school next week, I shall buy you a new jacket in the children’s-wear shop,’ Carmen told her.
    ‘Oh, pooh!’
    ‘Thank you, Mum,’ May put in quickly, ‘I’m not sure when I can wear such a pretty dress, but.…’
    ‘You have a young man, I understand? He may ask you out!’
    ‘Young man?’ May blushed. She wished she could prevent herself from ‘colouring-up’ as Aunt Min put it.
    ‘She means Paddy, of course,’ Pomona chipped in, to her sister’s further embarrassment. ‘Actually, you two are always arguing, aren’t you? Like Danny and me, although I usually get the better of
him
.’
    ‘You are the least tactful person I know,’ May hissed in her ear.
    ‘Come along, girls; my friend Carlos will be waiting for us in the coffee shop. If you are nice to your sister, Pomona, you shall have a double helping of ice-cream.’
    ‘Good-oh. But don’t tell Jenny, May, or she’ll say it’ll spoil my lunch. I can’t bottle this afternoon on an empty stomach.’
    ‘So,’ Carlos said