Billie was out with a plan this morning. Her stride had purpose to it as she marched down the high street past all the shops and stores she passed every other day. Yet this morning they all seemed new and mysterious as though one of them might hold the elusive answer to her quest. Her gaze even lingered slightly longer on the windows of the brightly coloured trendy places where all the cool kids shopped. But she soon moved on again. The answer definitely wasn't in there.
She wasn't quite sure what made her turn down the little alley. Maybe it was the way the sun passed straight over it, leaving it dark and mysterious. Maybe it was the old fashioned phone-box sitting at the corner. Or maybe it was they way her eyes were drawn to the broken cobbles lining the ground. The alley looked like it belonged in the Victorian times. It was bleak and primitive and yet somehow comforting to her.
But whatever it was that lured into the damp-smelling street, it was forgotten as Billie wandered further from the busy, bustling noise of the High Street. This place seemed to have no sound. No breeze. No birds flew overhead. It was almost like she had stepped out of time itself.
Very soon she found herself staring into the window of a quaint little shop window with no sign or name on the door. She cupped a hand over her eyes and peered into the gloom within, but could make out only dim shapes and shadows.
"Can I help you, my dear?"
Billie jumped in shock, her heart leaping in her chest and her tummy bubbling butterflies. She didn't know why but she felt like she'd just been caught stealing candy, like a naughty little child.
She hadn't even heard the old man come out of the shop. She opened her mouth to reply, but found herself staring at him in astonishment.
He was small and stooped, like any old man should be, and yet there was a sparkle in the gentleman's blue eyes that held her gaze. He wore brown trousers and shoes with suspenders and a dark brown cardigan over a pale green shirt. It was like he'd been plucked out of a story book. Such a perfect little old man.
She found herself returning the smile he offered warmly and sincerely.
"I'm looking for something." she said, suddenly remembering that he had asked her a question.
"Oh, well you must come inside and see if I have anything you'd like." he said enthusiastically.
In any other situation, Billie would have kindly thanked him and left. But instead she smiled and moved forward as he motioned to the doorway. He pushed the door open, which creaked on its ancient hinges in an alarming manner.
Why didn't the door make such a racket when he came outside? she wondered to herself.
As Billie stepped into the room beyond she was immediately greeted by the odor of old dust, like the smell of really old books: decaying paper and old tobacco. She found it oddly welcoming. As the old man follwed her into the shop she caught a whif of his scent. He smelt of pipe smoke and humbugs, just like her Grandfather. There was something about the smell of pipe tobacco that always made her feel comfortable.
"Now, my dear, what sort of thing are you looking for?" the old man rattled beside her in his croaky yet mellow tones.
"I'm..." she trailed off to gaze around the store. It reminded her slightly of the shop in the old cartoon "Mr Ben". Or rather it was the life-like version of what she imagined the animated costume shop would look like. It was full of racks and rack of clothes, old and new, bright and dark, of every style, fashion and time period you could think of. Some looked like they belonged in Shakespeare plays, other like they were pantomine clothes. Other looked like the clothes they wore in the sixties or seventies.
"Yes my dear?" promped the old man, patiently. She turned and smiled apologetically.
"Sorry. I am looking for a disguise." she said simply.
"A disguise? What kind of a disguise?" he asked thoughtfully, looking around the shop as though searching for some inspiration.
"One so that no one would recongise me."
"I see." he said stroking his chin. "And don't wou want people to recognise you, dear?"
Bille stopped for a moment, trying to pull together he explanation properly.
"People don't like me. If I wear a disguise they won't recognise me. So they might like me." she explained.
The old man regarded her uncertainly.
"That is a strange reason to want a disguise." he said, sounding surprised. She turned to look at him questioningly.
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, dear, if people like you when you wear the disguise, surely it is the disguise they like. They do not truly like you."
Billie stopped and thought about this for a moment.
"I do see what you mean. But I am so lonely. I'd rather have friends who only like the disguise I wear, than no friends at all."
The old man shrugged sadly.
"Very well my dear. Now then let's see what we have..."
Billie tried on lots of clothes and costumes. She tried on a sixties mini-skirt, a mediaeval dress, a mermade costume and one that made her look like a cowgirl. She even did her hair up in lots of different styles and played with the stage make-up the old man offered her. But nothing looked right.
"It's just not convincing." she wailed, sagging her shoulder and dropping onto a small stool. The leather trousers and basque she wore creaked painfully. "And it's really uncomfortable." she added.
"Hmmm. Yes I'm afraid people would see straight through these disguises." the old man agreed.
He looked down at the girl's sad face and took pity on her. He sat down on a stool beside her and took her hand.
"Tell me, dear, why is it you think people don't like you?"
Billie sighed deeply.
"It is beause I am sad." she replied.
"Sad, my dear?"
"Yes. I am always unhappy and miserable. Sometimes I feel so sad I don't want to be alive anymore. Sometimes I get angry for no good reason and sometimes I start crying when there is nothing to cause it all!" she explained waving her hand in the air dramatically. She lowered he hand again, deflatingly. "People don't like that." She summised, her voice soft and weak.
The old man looked sadly at her for a moment and then an idea came to him.
"Wait here, my dear, I have just the thing!" she leapt to his feet in a manner most energetic for a man of his age and disappeared into a room in the back of the shop.
He appeared again a few moments later carrying a small red box.
"Here you are! Try that on for size!" he said enthusiastically, shoving the box into her hands.
She regarded it curiously for a few seconds then slid the lid off.
"What is it?" she asked, hoping not to sound ignorant. She wasn't quite sure what she was looking at.
"Try it on. I'm sure it's your size." he said excitedly.
"She picked it up carefully and placed it on her face, which instantly lit up like a sunbeam."
"It fits! It fits!" the man clapped his hands together in delight.
"How does it look?" she asked uncertainly.
"It's perfect. No one would ever know it wasn't real."
Billie got up and went over to the mirror in the corner of the room and studied her face carefully. The old man was right. The new disguise was perfectly convincing and you couldn't even tell it was a fake.
"It's exactly what I wanted. This will work for sure!" she exclaimed to the old man who beamed at her.
"You better make sure you wear at all times, and don't let it slip, else people will see that it's not real." he instructed her. She nodded urgently.
"Oh yes. I must wear it in public all the time." she agreed. "How much is it?" she asked, reaching for her purse.
"Nothing to you, my dear. I only ask, that should you ever come back and visit me, that you take it off so that I may see the real you."
Billie smiled warmly and gave the old man a tender kiss on the cheek.
"You are a true friend." she told him.
"Yes." he replied. "True friends don't need to see the disguise. They like you for your true self." he added wisely.
With that, Billie thanked the old man again and left the shop, ready to show the whole world her new Smile.
