The Petticoat & the Evacuee Scene 84

As they approach the school gates, both evacuee and local children point and laugh at poor Billy. A hoard of butterflies erupts in his stomach as he looks up at the chiseled words above the entrance; Girls. The echoes of laughing boys fade as he passes through the vestibule where he and all the others remove their overcoats. The walls of the vestibule are home to two staggered rows of coat hooks and from every one hangs a white pinafore apron. The girls don an apron and hang their coats in its place. Alice helps Billy into his pinny as he gets in a right kerfuffle trying to fasten the single button between his shoulder blades and is unable to tie the two tapes in a bow at the small of his back. Although the white pinafore apron covers much of his pink dress, Billy feels a trillion times more girlie for wearing it.