the rest of coney plus a new school

"Take off your shoes and roll up your pants!" Liam tells him.

"I have sand in my stockings," Julia comments. "I should have been a mermaid. Mermaids do not have to worry about sand in their stockings."

"Did you wear your shoes and stockings in the ocean?" James asks, not sure how else she would be sandy.

"I must not have brushed my feet off enough." She sits on the ground, unbuttons her shoes, and peels off her stockings, then stuffs the stockings down inside her shoes, brushes off her feet, and stands back up. "You were going to buy us ice cream," she says to Sean, grinning. "Or did you spend all your money riding the Whip?"

( I did not throw up, James says proudly. )

words: 1816
total words: 38,659
quickie research: girls' shoes in 1919, the dalton school

julia cuts her hair off, and also there is some drama

In October, William turns twelve and Mrs Godwin has a party for him. She invites all the boys in his class at school as well as his brothers and sisters, but Aimee declares she does not want to attend because the party will just be a lot of boys. Lucas and Matthew both put in an appearance, however, mostly to wish William a happy and to deliver their presents, and while the younger boys are running around the ballroom playing party games under the watchful eyes of Luisa and several other nannies, Mrs Godwin and her stepsons sit in the parlor and chat and nibble on cake.

Marcus comes by the house as well, just to say hello and drop off a wrapped box and a card, but he does not stay. William does not particularly want his older brothers at his party with all his friends and classmates, so it does not bother him that none of them stay in the ballroom or the larger dining room, where refreshments and cake are served after the games.

( James does not want to attend the party any more than Aimee does )

words: 2016
total words: 40,675
quickie research: bobbed hair, vogue