* * * * *
The afternoon of the Christmas Party finally arrived. Ana's mother took Ana and the twins to the Campbell's house after school, and she handed Ana a plastic bag containing her Halloween costume before saying goodbye. The invitations had said that it was going to be a "fancy dress party", but she hadn't had enough money to get a new costume just for the occasion.
What was more, asking her mother to buy one was a no-go situation since her Halloween outfit was a multi-colored harlequin suit that could be used without anyone (except maybe the people who lived on her street and had seen her trick-or-treating in it) knowing that she hadn't bought it just for the Christmas Party. Ana briefly wondered how many other kids would turn up as witches or vampires when their parents wore new costumes before following Caera and Claudia inside and up the stairs to Caera's room.
Caera searched her bottom drawer before lifting out last year's pirate costume and was muttering something about her boots being too small as she disappeared into her closet. When she re-emerged with them a minute later, she flounced on the bed and tried to yank one on.
"Ouch. I don't believe this. What a bummer!"
"Too tight?" Ana laughed.
"I'll say. Maybe I can cut off a toe or something."
"That's not funny, Caera. Knock on wood." Claudia was looking supremely worried.
"Here we go again. I'm not as superstitious as you, Claudia." Nevertheless, she knocked the wooden frame of her bed, just to be safe. Ana and Claudia didn't hear it, though, because at that moment, Mrs. Campbell knocked on Caera's door.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure, mom. Whaddaya want?"
"I was hoping I could ask you three to help me get some things out of the storage room for the party. Your father and I are almost done with setting this place up, but there are still things to do and we only have a few hours."
Caera and Claudia agreed and hurried down the stair. The living room was decorated in snowflakes, bright with tinsel, and awash in reds, greens, yellows, and blues. Caera and Claudia privately wondered how on earth their mother thought she needed more decorations.
Once they got to the storage room, Mrs. Campbell told the three girls to wait in the doorway and went off to rummage through for something.
"What do you need our help for mom?" Claudia called across the room. Mrs. Campbell didn't say, but only called them over to her.
"I need someone's help to wear these..." Caera heard her mother's voice trail off suspensefully as she opened a large box. Inside were the antique dresses that they had found months before in the attic, and they had apparently been cleaned, mended, and dyed, for they looked as good as new.
"Surprise!" For a moment there was a stunned silence and then all three girls screamed at the top of their lungs. Caera was the first to speak.
"All right mom! Which one do I get to wear?" She was jumping up and down and could hardly contain her excitement.
"I thought the blue dress should go to Claudia since she's the one who found it, and you and Ana can choose one from the rest. Now, no fighting, girls," she saw fit to add the last comment.
"Who us?" Caera echoed in tones of disbelief. "Since when do we ever?"
Mrs. Campbell just laughed hard, shaking her head before she left.