Young women today

The Character, the Tomboy, the Prom Queen and the Nondescript sat down in my end of the train.

I can't guess what age people are. Everybody looks so young, unless they're young and look really old.

They looked really old and dressed as their names prescribed.

" My daddy’s taking me shopping, said the Prom Queen. "

Happy kids, they all seemed. Chattering away -- first year, second year high school, I estimated after a while. 14 year olds.

The Character sat down last having almost missed the train. Huffing and puffing she grabbed a piece of paper from her pocket. "You have to read this, it's really funny."

The Tomboy read the piece and smiled a little. "See, it's funny!" said the Character. The piece of paper was passed on, everybody smiled a little. The Nondescript was last and held on to the story. The Character said: "Throw it away!" And she did, but you could tell she didn't feel good about wasting a perfectly good paper cutting.

"Look what my dad got me," said the Character, pulling on a gaudy fake gold collar necklace, "My sister got one too. I'm wearing hers."

"Why would you want to wear your sister's name?" said the Nondescript.

"It's stupid," said the Tomboy.

"I know, it's stupid" said The Character and she explained why she was wearing it anyway.

Everybody nodded.

"I want one too," said the Nondescript and you could tell she didn't have wants of her own.

"My daddy's taking me shopping," said the Prom Queen, the youngest looking of them all underneath her blemish stick.

"I want to get that beige outfit from Manga, and a pink jacket from The Sting... but I'm not sure because it was really big eventhough it's a small."

The Character was making odd little comments throughout her friend's want list, subtly mocking her. Already on a different level from the rest of them. Smart cookie. Bound to do stand-up later. Or be a journalist. Or join the Peace Corps.

Little Prom Queen continued: "... and a couple of tops. And runners..."

"You don't wear runners," said the Tomboy - all girl underneath the baggy black combat clothing.

"... yeah but they're comfortable. And a new scent. I must have a new scent."

"Ralph?" Asked the Character.

"... no, Chanel. Miss Coco. It's a really old scent, but it's lovely. And I need a couple of pairs of trousers. Tartan ones, I think."

"Not the Burberry's!" said the Character.

"... yeah, and perhaps a necklace. So... I hope I'm getting all that."

"She will," said the Character.

"... I had a fight with my mum."

For the next five minutes, she told the story of her fighting with her mom over misplacing some of her CDs. The fight, or the story, escalated rapidly.

"... and when I get tired I just cry. I just do. So I cried and cried! You can tell, my eyes are swollen."

She did look a little tired, like young women do.

"... that's why I'm not wearing my mascara today."

I had a vision of her sniffing cocaine off some toilet sink, stuck in a life not too far away.

"I fought with my mum too," said the Tomboy and told her story while the other two girls said they had fought with their mums too.

"And we were shouting and I threw my dinner, plate and all, in the bin and ran upstairs. And so I barricaded my room and she was kicking the door and shouting. All because the shop didn't have any lettuce. How can I help that? She said I should have bought something else instead. How do I know what to buy? And I told her I'd rather talk to the wall. At least it would listen to me."

"Never say that to mums," the Character said, sounding wise.

"... and then I broke this big framed picture on my chair. And it fell into 30 pieces. And my mum picked it up and it broke again."

They all laughed.

"I hope my daddy takes me out shopping," said the Prom Queen, "You see, my daddy and I never fight. He loves me a lot because I am really sweet."

The Nondescript said: "This is our stop."