Anastasia's Chosen Career by Lois Lowry

Author:Lois Lowry [Lowry, Lois]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

8

"Okay, everybody," Anastasia announced to her family that evening, "I want you all sitting in a row, right here on the couch. Turn that light on, Mom. The lighting needs to be right."

Mrs. Krupnik leaned over and flicked the light switch. She peered at Anastasia. "Are you wearing rouge?" she asked suspiciously. "Your cheeks look awfully pink to me. Either you're wearing rouge or you have a fever."

"Why do you still have your hat on?" Sam asked. "You're spozed to take your hat off when you come in the house."

Dr. Krupnik looked at his watch. "How long do we have to sit here, Anastasia?" he asked. "I want to watch the sports news. The Celtics won last night."

Anastasia glared at him. "Which is more important, Dad?" she asked. "The Boston Celtics, or your very own thirteen-year-old daughter's self-image?"

He opened his mouth to speak.

"Don't answer that," Anastasia said hastily, remembering her father's passion for the Celtics.

She waited until the three of them—her mother, father, and brother—were all arranged comfortably on the couch. Then she reached for her ski hat.

"Ta DA!" she said, and pulled the hat off.

Sam grinned and clapped his hands. Her mother stared in amazement.

"I'll be darned," said Dr. Krupnik. "You look like one of the Beatles, back when they were young!"

"Daaaad," Anastasia wailed.

"I loved the Beatles twenty years ago," her father added quickly. "I watched them on The Ed Sullivan Show on TV. I thought they were terrific-looking. And you are too, Anastasia."

"You really are, Anastasia," her mother said. "That's a wonderful haircut. I wonder why it never occurred to me that your hair would look so good cut short. My goodness, you look—"

"Older?" asked Anastasia hopefully.

"Yes. Definitely older."

"Prettier?" Anastasia smoothed her new haircut with her hands.

Her mother nodded. "Prettier. Of course I always thought you were pretty, anyway."

"Me, too," said Sam. "I was always pretty, too, wasn't I? I have pretty curls."

Anastasia ignored her brother, who was patting his own curly head. "I thought maybe they'd want to give me a perm, Mom," she said, "and I was mentally preparing myself for curls. But Aunt Vera—she's the lady in charge—she could see that I wasn't the curly type. And she was right, wasn't she, Mom? See how it hangs down all flat? I think it's kind of sophisticated-looking."

"It is," her mother agreed. "I like the way it falls forward there over your ears."

"Please," Dr. Krupnik said, "may I go watch the sports news on TV?"

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