grandparents' house & twin costume

I was showing some people through the house where my maternal grandparents lived when they were alive and where I spent so much time as a child. We went into the first spare room (which we called Number One Bedroom) where I used to sleep whenever I stayed there. Everything was very old: the carpet was threadbare, the wallpaper peeling and there was a general sense of age and decay. I led the people down the hall into my grandparents’ bedroom which was also old and yellowed; the floral carpet was worn and curled up at the edges. Lastly, we went into the back room (Number Two Bedroom) where my sister slept when she stayed overnight. This room was in the worst state: the walls were buckling and the rotting floor tilted away from the rest of the house. All of the rooms were empty. One person walked toward the far corner of the room and abruptly stopped as the floor creaked, threatening to give way. We all went back out to the lounge room and I felt the weight of age and memory upon me; my breathing was stifled and a certain melancholy stirred my being.

Next, I opened the door of a wooden wardrobe which was standing in the middle of the lounge room and I discovered a Siamese Twin costume that my friend C had let me borrow. It consisted of two dresses, much like private school uniforms, sewn together with a wide space at the hips where the twins were supposedly joined. (Joined at the hip!) I knew I had to give it back to her so I waited for her with the costume over my arm. The lounge room became a foyer leading to a huge auditorium where a show was about to begin. Various performers gathered in the foyer, preparing to go on stage. The show started and, still, I waited for C to arrive. Finally, she pulled up in her old grey car and emerged dressed in a long pale grey shimmering gown and an orange curling wig. Gliding through the foyer, she said hello to various people and went straight into the auditorium to perform. Another well-known performer, K, then appeared in the foyer, wearing a strikingly similar costume complete with curling locks of reddish hair. She welcomed me warmly. I knew that these two were true divas.