I was again exploring the attic of my parents' house. It was like traveling back in time. I opened another metal trunk. That one was lighter. It wasn't filled with grandma's collection of Enid Blyton books.
I found several garment bags. I opened the first one, and was quite surprised to discover an old school uniform. I also found a leather satchel filled with textbooks. They were all for an upper 6th former, and dated September 1971.
I took everything down to my bedroom. I tried the school uniform, it fitted surprisingly well. The blazer was decorated with the crest of Saint Mary the old local public school I had attended. The skirt felt very short. I remembered the miniskirt fashion of the 70's.
I toyed with that gold ring, and slipped it onto my ring finger. For a millisecond everything around me disappeared in a white flash. I didn't have time for more than a surprised, and silent oh.
The girl in the mirror was no longer me! She kind of looked like me. It was scary! With both hands I carefully caressed my cheeks, as if to make sure that it was me. There was no doubt, I was again eighteen.
Then I noticed that all the furniture in the room had changed. There was a vinyl player and albums of the Beatles, Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. I further looked around, and discovered a field hockey uniform with a stick. I read the name tag on the sports bag, Alicia Hatter. I realized that I was in my aunty's room when she was eighteen. Then the room next door must be Mom's, but she was already at that secretarial boarding school in 1971.
Then I heard a voice I recognized, it was Grandma. She was calling, "Licia, if you don't hurry up you will get a tardy!"
I apprehensively took off the ring, and after another white flash, the mirror was showing that I was again a twenty-two year old dressed as an eighteen years old schoolgirl. The vinyl player had transformed back into my laptop. "Phew!"
I played with the ring, and each times I heard Grandma telling me to hurry up. I was no longer scared. I had the ring back on. I was two in one, Janet and Alicia. I ran downstairs with my satchel. Grandma looked so young! I gave her a great hug which surprised her. I ran out of the house to the garage. It was empty, Grandpa had obviously already left. I saw how Aunty's old bike looked brand new. I hopped on, and rode high above the saddle with my miniskirt flying. A few boys wolf whistled, I beamed!
There was all those vintage cars looking brand new. A double deck bus with a rear platform, and ladies wearing flowery dresses. It was like a movie, but it was real. I caught up with an impi of girls wearing the same uniform as me. They teased me for the boys having whistled me.
Saint Mary looked freshly repainted. The big clock on its facade was again working, we had five minutes to lock our bicycles under the bike-shed. Then we ran inside swinging our satchels. A couple of matronly supervisors were trying to tell us not to run, and to quiet down. We ignored them, we were outnumbering them.
I remembered where was my upper 6th form classroom was, and hoped it was the same in 1971. It was, and my old desk was waiting for me, next to a girl who was my aunty's best friend. As I was two in one, Janet and Alicia, I knew her name as Lucinda or Lulu. I greeted her, "Yoh Lulu!" She answered with calling me Liz.
An old biddy dressed in black entered the class room, and I stood as all my chums while joining the chorus of "Good morning Miss Fritton!"
She extracted a folder from her bag. and returned our homework. She stopped by our desk. "Alicia, 10/20, keep on that track, and I will have you visiting the deputy principal for a well deserved skelping! Lucinda 10.50/20, you will soon be following her!"
With that threat of a spanking, I felt a hot flush. I was for sure blushing as red as a peony. It was also quite scary as Pop and Mom had never spanked me.
"For our class on Wednesday, both of you will return these poor excuses for homework with the signature of your parents!"
I soberly remembered that I had flunked my A-levels, and that I am only a clerk at the counter of our local bank.
Janet-Alicia
To be continued...
./.
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