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Show Woodworth/13 department to department, looking at sweaters, hats, dolls, games, lingerie. Both felt much too grown up to ask for toys. Megan wanted a girdle with green and pink flowers on it, but her mother told her she wouldn't need one until she was older- Ruth bought a present for herself: a beige, filmy nightgown that reached to the floor and sighed against the paper when the salesgirl wrapped it. Marty wanted one like that, but her mother said no, not until she was older. Then both girls were fussy, and wanted something to prove they were big. Ruth bought a pair of white gloves for iV!egan and a shoulder bag for Marty. On the way home, in the back of the station wagon, they played grown-ups and fought about who looked older. They would spread the new clothes, or toys, or things for the house, out in the living room until the couch looked like a casual closet. Ned would say. "Nice. Very pretty. Lovely, indeed," at everything they showed him, including the neglige that their mother had bought. Jake would say it was sissy stuff, and that they were just sissies. Marty would hit at him, and they would grab each other, rolling and tickling until their mother made them stop. "Go and change your clothes, and then get out of the house until dinner." So Marty would put on her overalls, and she and Jake would go outside, down to the pond at the end of the field, or behind their own barn, where Ned had fastened a basketball hoop over a small cement square. A soojthing voice is recommending a gentle, dependable laxative on television. Marty's mother turns quickly, splashing her drink on the tan rug. "I'm disconnecting the phone," she says. "So I can take a nap. I hope you aren't expecting anyone to call." Marty sits on the couch, watching the irregular wet spot |