The Ballroom on Magnolia Street Read Online Free Page A

dig the second-hand gear.’
    The car horn sounded again. Kate snatched up her sequinned bag, purse, perfume, lipstick, tissues and her leather jacket. Shirley sighed and popped her T-bar shoes back on.
    The two sisters went down the stairs, closed the front door behind them and then they were on the street, beside the waiting car.
    ‘Quigley’s, please,’ Kate told the driver, as she settled herself regally on the back seat. Shirley watched him steal a lusty glance at Kate’s denim-clad thighs, before the car pulled out from the pavement and into the line of traffic.
    They didn’t speak again until the taxi stopped outside Quigley’s. Kate paid the driver while Shirley tried to see in through the small window. One fleeting glimpse of a military overcoat and she knew she would chicken out. And then she saw him standing beside the New Releases, looking absolutely fabulous in all-black with a low-slung leather belt with big metal studs on it. And black suede boots with pointy toes. She felt a hot flush of desire and drew back from the doorway. Kate, determined to get the two of them together, gave her a shove and suddenly Shirley knew she just couldn’t go in. Her cheeks were on fire with embarrassment.
    Shirley tried to reverse out of the shop, but Kate’s elbow was in the way and a speeding train wouldn’t have moved it. There was a slight scuffle as the two sisters pushed and shoved each other in the doorway, one trying to get in and the other trying to get out.
    ‘Oi! No trouble in the shop! Take it outside, ladies!’ The man behind the counter didn’t want a punch-up near his precious cardboard cut-out of the Wham boys.
    ‘No trouble. Just a woman in love,’ said the long-haired girl, as she pushed her blushing companion down one of the aisles.
    Declan Greenwood watched the two tall girls jostling each other as they stood beside the Singles rack. One of the girls was very glamorous in blue eyeshadow, a blue leather jacket, ripped jeans and glass stilettos. The other one was more artistically dressed, in a pink and orange skirt, red beads and a faded denim jacket with a huge pink silk rose pinned on the lapel. Her bob was paper-flat, and her blue eyes were circled heavily with black pencil. But he guessed they were sisters. They were very alike. He turned back to the display of LPs on the shelf in front of him.
    He had been blessed with excellent hearing, something several years of listening to very loud music had not diminished. He could hear them arguing in angry whispers on the other side of the display.
    ‘Ask him. Go on. Ask him. What have you got to lose?’
    ‘No way. Are you completely mental?’
    ‘Ah, go on. You’re hopeless! Have you no guts at all?’
    ‘That’s rich coming from you! Why didn’t you ask Alex out last week, instead of telling him outrageous lies about the opposition?’
    ‘Tactics. Watch and learn, little sister. You’ve got to wound your rivals before you go in with the big guns. It’s called propaganda.’
    ‘Your head’s cut. I can’t believe you’re trying to give me advice about men.’
    ‘Listen! We’re here now. Go on over.’
    ‘No. I couldn’t speak to him at the disco with three vodkas in me, and I definitely can’t do it now. In broad daylight. Sober.’
    ‘Well, then, I’ll ask him for you. Honestly, the things I do for you!’
    ‘You will not approach that fella.’
    ‘I will. I’ll give you a good mention. Don’t worry.’
    ‘Don’t you dare!’
    ‘Did you get that ring in a lucky bag, by the way? Take it off. It looks plastic.’
    ‘Kate!’
    ‘Let go of me. You’re hurting my arm.’
    ‘What are you going to say? My wee sister wants to marry you, she’s got no savings, but all her own teeth? Let’s throw in two goats and name the day?’
    ‘Well, I won’t tell him you’re a nineteen-year-old daydreamer who talks to the moon and thinks she’s Louise Brooks.’
    ‘If you go anywhere near him, I’ll put all your handbags in the