A Perfect Gentle Knight by Kit Pearson Page B

she asked. On her head was perched a blue hat. A purple one was in her hand. “I’m trying to choose,” she told them, coming in and sitting on the chair. “Which one do you like the best? The altar guild at St. George’s is having a tea, and I want to make a good impression.”
    Mrs. Cooper would always make a good impression, thought Corrie. She was round like her daughter, but her face was so open and friendly. She wore bright lipstick and colourful clothes.
    â€œTry on the other one,” ordered Meredith, getting up and helping her mother adjust it. “No, I like the blue one best. What do you think, Corrie?”
    â€œI like it best too,” said Corrie shyly.
    â€œThe blue one it is, then! I’ll take the other one back.”
    Meredith had crammed the purple hat on her head. She snatched the blue one from her mother’s head and put it on Corrie’s.
    â€œLook how that hat brings out the colour in your eyes, Corrie,” said Mrs. Cooper. “You’re going to be very pretty when you grow up.”
    Corrie blushed. No one had ever said this to her before. She gazed at her face in the mirror, framed by the hat. Roz and Juliet were the pretty ones, not her. Her nose was too long and her face was so thin and freckled. She had never cared; knights didn’t have to be pretty. But Mrs. Cooper was right. Beneath her long bangs her eyes looked bluer than usual.
    â€œYou have such shiny brown hair,” Mrs. Cooper told her. “It would look lovely with the ends curled.”
    Corrie took off the hat and examined her bone-straight hair in the mirror.
    â€œWould you like me to put it in pincurls for you?” Before Corrie could object, Mrs. Cooper had fetched a comb, some water, and a dish of bobby pins. Corrie sat in a chair while Mrs. Cooper deftly fastened strands of her hair into tight curlicues, crossing each round with two bobby pins. When she had finished, Corrie’s head was a helmet of pins. They prickled, but she tried not to protest.
    â€œThere you go!” Mrs. Cooper patted her head. “It should be dry in about an hour, then I’ll brush it out for you.”
    Corrie and Meredith went back to their dog show. “I hope you don’t mind,” said Meredith when her mother had left the room. “Mum likes playing with hair, and she can’t do much with mine because it’s already naturally curly.”
    â€œIt’s okay,” Corrie told her, although she was afraid of what she would look like.
    When the curls were all brushed out she examined herself warily.
    â€œWow!” said Meredith.
    â€œYou look gorgeous,” said Mrs. Cooper.
    Corrie was horrified. A stranger stared back at her, a fuzz of curls springing artificially from the ends of her hair. She looked like a teenager!
    Mrs. Cooper hugged her. “Oh, sweetheart, you don’t like it, do you? Don’t worry, it’ll be straight again in the morning. I’m sorry I did it. Do you forgive me?”
    Corrie smiled. How could she not? She hated her hair, but it wouldn’t last. It was almost worth going through the ordeal to get such a friendly hug.
    â€œW HO CURLED YOUR HAIR ?” Roz asked her in the kitchen. “I love it!”
    â€œI don’t,” said Sebastian.
    Corrie rushed to the sink and ran the cold-water tap. Gasping with the shock, she soaked her hair, then dried it on the dish towel. “There!” she said with relief. “All gone!”
    â€œOh, Corrie, why did you do that?” Roz shook her head. “You’re such a tomboy!”
    â€œLeave her alone, Roz,” said Sebastian. “She’s only eleven. She’s much too young to curl her hair, and besides, knights don’t care what their hair looks like.”
    â€œ You do,” said Roz bravely. “If you got yours cut you’d look more normal.”
    â€œMy hair is my manhood,” said Sir Lancelot. “If I cut it I will