Saint spends an hour in Miss Kline's store on Main Street while Norma waits and Miss Kline keeps the shop open after hours. Saint tries on a series of dresses and rejects each one with sharp, sarcastic complaints, making it clear that she feels awkward, exposed, and resentful about dressing up for the birthday party.

After several failed options, they settle on a black floral dress with a white collar. Back at the tall house, Norma comments that the dress is too long, and Saint snaps back that she is too short, showing that Saint remains in a foul mood even after the practical problem is solved.

Saint then rummages through her grandmother's old makeup and quickly realizes it is unusable. Because Norma still wants Saint properly prepared, she brings over Mrs. Harris from across the street to help.

Saint is horrified when she learns that Mrs. Harris does cosmetic work for Mr. Nathaniel at the funeral parlor, and Mrs. Harris dryly replies that if she can make a corpse look alive, she can manage Saint. The exchange turns the scene into a clash between Saint's defensiveness and the older women's matter-of-fact determination.

Mrs. Harris applies makeup despite Saint's complaints and pointedly ignores Saint's order to leave her braid alone. After twenty minutes of work, Saint finally comes downstairs dressed and made up, while Norma eagerly takes photo after photo and Saint has to resist reacting rudely, ending the chapter with Saint outwardly transformed but inwardly resistant.