The truth was that each of the sisters could have had her own room. Their home was spacious, rambling, not exactly ramshackle, not House Lovely. Their enjoyment of each others' company, they knew, was not necessarily the usual thing. If they'd had separate bedrooms they would just have spent all their time together in one or the other, so, they asked, what was the point? The room they shared actually had its own sitting room which became their
atelier as soon as they discovered their affinity for vintage clothes and fabrics. Their mother helped them learn to sew, though Ambulancia became Sireena's mentor, bringing out the younger girl's astonishing natural ability. Their mother told of her "home ec" class in junior high, back when the ability to sew was expected of girls. The sisters howled with laughter imagining some of their classmates handed a pair of scissors during school hours.
Using as a pattern an Edwardian nightgown in their collection, the girls planned to adapt it as a pinafore to match the photo of what they called their antique selves. When their mother discovered the tulle piled in a corner of the atelier, she knew enough not to ask but simply said, "Changed your minds, I see." Without speaking, Ambulancia held up the photograph and kept sewing. Time was short and there were miles to go. Miles.
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