Patti screwed up her nose. ‘I’d love that, but have you seen my nails?’ She held out her hands. ‘One of the things on my bucket list is to stop biting them.’
‘No problem, I picked up a couple of packets of false nails today, you can have one. I’ll do them for you.’
‘Brilliant,’ Patti said in delight.
Kit glanced at Sandra’s nails. ‘Shall I stick a pair on you too? Your nails are fine but it would be good to have long ones for the photo.’
Sandra nodded. ‘Please. And you must let us pay you for them.’
‘My treat – they’re only cheap.’ Kit rummaged in her bag, taking out two packets of false nails, a bottle of yellow nail varnish, and another bottle of blue. ‘Do you have red nail varnish, Gran?’
‘I do. I’ve got a few different colours upstairs. I’ll go and get them.’
Patti returned with a bottle of red, a bottle of purple and one of pink. ‘Will these do?’ Kit had spread two sheets of newspaper on the table, Patti noticed in relief. Very thoughtful of her.
Kit nodded. ‘Right, ladies, place your hands out on the newspaper and I’ll get working on those nails. Shall I start with you, Gran?’
Kit looked at the finished sets of nails with pride. After fixing the false nails on, she’d painted each nail on Patti’s right hand a different colour, then did the left hand to match. She’d done the same for Sandra but in a different order. ‘Well, what do you think?’
Both women held out their hands and gazed admiringly at them.
‘They are gorgeous. Thank you, darling. Now I’m even more determined to stop biting my nails,’ Patti exclaimed. ‘I’m going to grow them and stick some pretty gems on them!’
‘They really are,’ Sandra agreed. ‘Thank you, Kit.’
Sandra’s her eyes were sparkling. She’s enjoying herself, Patti thought happily. She’d been worried how downcast her old friend had looked when they’d first met – even though it was natural in the circumstances – and felt so pleased she’d been able to cheer her up a little.
Kit took several photos of them together, calling out instructions, ‘Pout – no not that much!’ ‘Turn towards each other’ ‘Look up’ ‘Pull your glasses down onto your nose and peer over them.’ Finally, she finished and sat down to look at the photos she’d taken. Patti and Sandra peered over her shoulder.
‘I reckon this one, what do you two think?’ she asked.
Patti and Sandra crowded around the screen. The photo showed them both looking at the camera, hands with their fingers spread across their mouths, displaying their multi-coloured nails, glasses perched on the ends of their nose, hats jauntily poised on their head. They looked so alive. She loved it.
‘It’s brilliant,’ she said.
‘Perfect!’ Sandra agreed.
‘Right, let me filter it, then I’ll upload it to your account.’
‘No way. No filters here,’ Patti said firmly. ‘We’re not bothering with any of that. What we post is going to be real. Right, Sandra?’
‘Absolutely! If you can’t be real at our age, when can you?’
Kit shrugged. ‘If that’s what you want.’ She uploaded the photo to their Instagram account and handed Patti her phone back. ‘Fantastic name. Old Gals’ sounds sassy and fun.’
‘That’s the image we want.’ Patti explained how they were going to upload photos of them attempting to fulfil their bucket list, and other fun things they did.
‘That’s so inspiring. And why don’t you ask other people what they want to do for their bucket lists too? That would encourage interaction.’
Sandra turned to Patti, her eyes sparkling. ‘Shall we?’
‘Why not?’ Excitement was buzzing through her. She was enjoying herself so much.
‘Take a photo of your bucket list and tick off the things as you do them. That will get everyone’s interest. You’ve already got your tattoos so that’s one ticked off.’
‘Good idea. Let me get my notebook.’ Patti took it out of her handbag and opened it up to the written bucket list.
‘I’ve got my list in my phone case.’ Sandra opened the case and took out the piece of paper. ‘Oh, I must add “get a tattoo”. It wasn’t on my original list.’
