Beautiful Dreamer
	by Allen Morgan
	novel
	no illustrations
	nine chapters - 107 pages

Chapter Four (part 3)

Mrs. Thompson was just driving into the laneway when Katie brought Henry home. She asked how everything had gone.

"Oh fine, Mrs. Thompson, just fine," Katie told her. She didn't say anything about losing Henry. Not that she lied exactly, but Mrs. Thompson didn't ask, so Katie just forgot to mention it.

"I didn't get him any ice cream," Katie said as she collected her money for the job. "He wanted hot dogs so he got those instead."

"He's just crazy about hot dogs," said Mrs. Thompson. "He looks very happy. You've done a wonderful job. I'll call you again."

Katie felt kind of bad about the whole thing and so did Gale when she heard the story. "Maybe we should give Mrs. Thompson back her money," suggested Gale.

But Katie wasn't feeling that bad. "We earned that money fair and square " she said. "And we didn't actually lose him or anything. We only almost did."

Later that night, after dinner, Katie sat on the bed watching Susie putting on her make-up. Susie was getting ready to go out. Katie was sitting there thinking about it.

"Do you ever kiss boys?" Katie asked.

"Sometimes," said Susie. Katie made a face. Susie laughed. "It's not as bad as all that," she told Katie.

"If it's anything like kissing dad then I don't see what all the fuss is about," said Katie.

Susie laughed again and got up to go. "It's not the least bit like kissing Max, I can tell you that. Just wait a few years Katydid, you'll find out it's not as bad as you may think."

As soon as she was sure that Susie was gone, Katie opened the dresser drawer and looked for the make-up. It wasn't there. Susie had taken it all in her purse. Katie sat down at the desk and looked into the mirror. She frowned at herself. She wasn't happy with what she saw.

"I wish I looked more like Susie," she thought and sat up straighter, hoping that she would look older. It wasn't any good. No matter how hard she tried, she ended up looking pretty much the same. "No wonder dad doesn't pay any attention to me," she thought. "I look so ordinary. Naturally he thinks I'm only a kid, but if I could look older it'd be completely different. All I need is a little make-up and I could do it too. I bet I could look just like Susie if I wanted to."

Katie took out her felt pens and tried the blue one on her eye lids in hopes of creating midnight blue. It wasn't even close. She ended up with morning grey, instead.

"I guess you need the real stuff," she thought and decided against trying the red pen on her lips. She just sat there staring at herself for a long while until it was time to go to sleep, so she put on her pajamas and got into bed. She lay on her back in the dark and thought about what make-up she'd have to get.

"Eye shadow to start with, midnight blue, like Susie uses and also some of the blush she has. Then that lipstick she likes and maybe just a splash of perfume to finish it off," she told herself as she fell asleep. "There's nothing like a little perfume to get someone's attention..."

"Pass the perfume, will you Susie?" Katie called to her sister. "The stuff I put on this morning is starting to wear off."

Susie looked on the shelf "Which one do you want.?" she asked.

"It doesn't matter," said Katie. "They're all expensive."

Susie selected a large gold bottle and brought it over to Katie's dressing table; She watched as Katie put on some eye shadow.

"I still can't believe you won all this in the lottery," Susie said.

"Neither can I," said Katie. "Sometimes I think the whole thing is a dream. Look at it all, dresses from Paris, furs, gold rings, bracelets, shoes by the dozen." Susie looked. The closet was full to bursting. She was definitely impressed. In fact, Katie thought she might even be a bit jealous. "Borrow them whenever you feel like it," she told Susie. She had so much it was easy to share.

A horn suddenly started beeping out back in the laneway behind the house. Katie finished putting on her make-up. "It's my boyfriend," she told her sister. She went to the closet to get her fur wrap and then she hurried down the hall to the kitchen. Max was just opening the back door when she got there.

A chauffeur was standing outside with a small, expensively wrapped box. He tipped his hat. "For you, miss," he told them and handed over the present.

"For me?" said Katie. "How nice."

She waved toward the big limousine where her boyfriend was waiting and then tore off the wrapping and opened the box. A diamond ring was inside.

"Isn't that pretty," said Katie, "but I already have one." She held it up to the light to see it sparkle and then she dropped it into the cookie jar. "That'll cover this week," she told her father as she went out the door.

As she walked out to her boyfriend she heard Max and Susie talking about her.

"Doesn't she look beautiful?" said Susie.

Max nodded. "She certainly has grown up, hasn't she?" he said.