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THE DRESS -
- Poor Sylvia, she was beautiful, but she never looked right. Her trainers were Nicks, not Nike. She didn't have a Kappa T-shirt, or her belly button pierced. When the other girls had their hair cropped modern-short, she kept hers shapeless and long. Although teased by her mates for being 'sad' and a 'scuffer', she just didn't care. She was happy with herself and the way she looked.
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- Sylvia lived with her mum, who worked hard to keep the two of them going. There was never much money to spare. The last thing she wanted to worry her mum with was name tags on stupid clothes. But when Lord Rangecroft-Junior pulled up at the school bus stop in his Porche and handed out tickets for his annual summer ball, held at the manor house, Sylvia was put in a real dilemma. Rangecroft-Junior was the town's heartthrob - only eighteen, painfully good-looking, and the heir to millions as well as a title. Not only rich and handsome, he was a pleasant person too! He made a special point of presenting a ticket to Sylvia, complementing her on her beautiful hair and individual looks as he did so.
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- 'Promise me you'll come and have at least one dance with me,' he pleaded. She smiled shyly and took the invitation. 'Formal Attire', it said - at the manor house that meant a ball-gown.
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- 'I'll try and come,' she lied, for she knew that no way on earth could her mum afford a ball-gown. After Rangecroft-Junior had driven away the other girls teased Sylvia about his attentions to her, but only because they were jealous - even they could see that he fancied her.
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- 'But what will she wear? Jeans and a scruffy T-shirt?' one of them shrilled. The others tittered, glad that somebody else had made a dig. That evening Sylvia showed her mum the invitation.
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- 'Don't you worry, love,' her mum said. 'You'll be going to that ball. By hook or by crook, I'll get you a dress to die for.'
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- The next day, Sylvia's mum took what money she had saved out of the bank and went into town. She returned home that evening with a brown paper parcel, which she dropped onto the kitchen table where Sylvia was doing her homework.
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- 'There you go, love,' she said. 'One ball-gown. I admit, it's not brand new. It's from Sammy's Seconds. But he swears it's only been worn once, and it's ever so lovely.'
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- Sylvia gasped when she held the dress against herself. It was absolutely beautiful - cream silk, full length with a fitted waist and pearl buttons. When she tried it on the dress looked perfect, as though it had been made for her. The only problem with it was that it had a strange chemical smell, as though it had been stored for a long time in mothballs.
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- 'Mam, this is just so lovely,' she said. 'I feel like Cinderella!'
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- 'Well, make sure you're home from the ball by midnight,' her mother said. Together they did Sylvia's hair and her make-up, sprayed on perfume to cover up the smell of the dress, then phoned a taxi. Off she went, with a last wave and smile from her mum.
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- Heads turned when Sylvia walked into the ballroom. With her hair piled in ringlets, her face shining, and that beautiful dress, she looked stunning. Every young man in the place, and especially Rangecroft-Junior, wanted a dance with her. She was having the time of her life, although the continuous dancing made her perspire a little. After a while, she even began to feel slightly ill. Rangecroft-Junior, noticing that she looked pale, led her to the seats that were arranged around the polished dance floor. Sylvia said she felt faint and needed air. As the man of her dreams escorted her toward the veranda for fresh air, Sylvia collapsed into his arms. She had fainted. Lord Rangecroft-Junior and his staff tried to revive her, but her pulse was very faint, her breathing erratic. She was rushed to hospital, but she never recovered from her fainting, and died that evening, just before midnight.
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- Although no foul play was suspected, a few days later the police called round to see Sylvia's distraught mother. They were kind with her, and gentle, but kept asking her questions about the dress. They wanted to know where she had bought it. How had Sylvia come to be wearing it? It was vital that she told them all about the dress. Between sobs, Sylvia's mother told them that she had bought the dress at 'Sammy's Seconds', on the High Street - a shop that sold high quality second hand goods. Second Hand Sam was later interviewed, and on the strength of his statement was arrested - although not for murder. He was arrested for grave-robbery.
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- Sylvia's post-mortem showed that she had died from poisoning. A peculiar fluid that was used for the embalming and preserving of human corpses had poisoned her blood. The dress that she had been wearing had originally been the funeral dress of a teenage girl from a nearby town. After the girl's funeral, Sammy or one of his 'assistants' had removed her dress along with her jewellery, then sold it on through his shop. But the fatal dress had been soaked in the embalming fluid before being put on the girl's body. As the evening had progressed at the ball Sylvia's perspiration had caused the fluid to soak from the dress onto her skin, and then through into her bloodstream, slowly but surely poisoning her.
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- Poor Sylvia, she was so beautiful. The one night of her life that she had looked just perfect, the dress that she wore had killed her.
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- THE DRESS - QUESTIONS
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- 1 Sylvia was beautiful, but she never looked right. Why?
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- 2 Why didn't Sylvia want to worry her mum about name tags on clothes?
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- 3 What did girls find attractive about Lord Rangecroft-Junior?
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- 4 Describe the dress that Sylvia's mum brought home?
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- 5 What clue is there that something is not quite right about the dress?
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- 6 What happened when Sylvia walked into the ballroom?
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- 7 Why did Rangecroft-Junior lead Sylvia to the seats around the dance floor?
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- 8 When the police interviewed Sylvia's mother, what did they want to know about the dress?
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- 9 Explain how Sylvia came to die because of the dress.
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- 10 Imagine that you are 'Second Hand Sam'. The police have arrested you. Using information from the story, plus any ideas of your own either:
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- • Write a script of an interview between you and the police, explaining how you came to have the dress.
End the script with the police charging you for grave-robbery -
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- • Write your statement for the police, explaining how you obtained the dress.
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- Do both if you have the time.
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