The shopping expeditions were among the most exciting things that Peggy and Amy did. The huge stores, crammed with merchandise from all over the world, were like nothing that they had ever seen before. Even the afternoon that Peggy had spent window-shopping with her mother had failed to prepare her for the size and complexity of these shops. Everywhere were rows on rows of dresses, coats, skirts, blouses, robes, and gowns. Counters and showcases displayed incredible arrays of lingerie, purses, shoes, gloves, scarves, and other accessories. And everywhere, at every time of day, the crowds of shoppers clustered as thick as bees around a hive.
Beautifully dressed women in furs walked side by side with trim young secretaries and vied with them for bargains at sales counters. Embarrassed men sidled past lingerie departments in search of gifts for their wives and sweethearts; short, stout women admired dresses designed for tall, slim models; elderly ladies tried on hat after hat, each one looking less suitable than the last; girls sprayed themselves with perfume at the cosmetic counters, or stood and watched demonstrators at work. One demonstrator who especially fascinated Peggy was a beautiful girl with long blond hair, who was showing a new hairstyling spray. She would spray it on, and with a few expert flips of a comb, create a hairdo; then, combing it out again, she would quickly arrange it in a different style. Each one took her only a minute or so to make perfect, then, out it would come, more spray would be applied, and another coiffure would be combed in. Peggy wondered how she wore it when it was time to go home at night. Probably pulled back in a bun, she thought.
These shopping tours represented diversion as much as necessity, though in the course of visiting all the stores, the girls did buy what they needed. Peggy got several dresses, some skirts and sweaters, a new coat, shoes, bag, and a hat. Also, on Amy’s advice, she bought some school things that would be suitable for stage work, plus a leotard, tights and ballet shoes that Mr. Macaulay’s secretary had told her she would need.
When neither girl could think of anything else that she needed to buy, the temptation to revisit the stores just to see things was still great.
“We’d better not, though,” Peggy said sensibly. “I don’t think I’m strong enough to resist temptation, and I’ve just about used up all my clothing allowance. Let’s visit some museums next.”
“Oh dear,” Amy sighed. “I suppose it’s a good idea, all right, but I just wish school would hurry up and start. I’m afraid I’m going to get indigestion from swallowing all of New York in one big gulp!”
So did Peggy, but museums were on her “little list,” and museums it would be. Besides, she knew that once school began, she would have little time for anything else.
So the guidebook came out once more, together with the flat walking shoes. But, though their time was spent in museums, their minds were in the future, and their talk was of nothing but the Academy, which was due to open in a few short days.
VIII
First Act
Peggy and Amy thought they had arrived early for opening day at the New York Dramatic Academy, but when they entered the old building, they found the long hallway filled to capacity with students waiting their turn on the ancient elevators.