In the Mouth of the Tiger by Lynette Silver

Mother’s table and was pleased to see that she and Tanya had been joined by a couple of other ladies and were deep in conversation.
    â€˜I’d love to come,’ I said abruptly. Then I hesitated. I’d never been outwith a man before and I didn’t know the protocol. Did I offer to meet him at the cinema, or should I ask him to call for me?
    â€˜I’ll pick you up at seven-fifteen precisely,’ Tim said with a happy grin, solving the problem. ‘Where do you live?’
    As I feared, Mother was not at all happy with the arrangement. It led to our first serious argument in KL. ‘You are still just a schoolgirl!’ she shouted. ‘Little more than a baby! He is a beast to try this on just because Tanya and I were not there to protect you!’
    â€˜I am sixteen this year,’ I retorted. ‘I think it very unfair of you to call me a baby. In the Middle Ages, a woman would be well and truly married at my age.’
    â€˜We are not living in the Middle Ages. Now, no more nonsense, Nona.’
    I went to my room and sulked for half an hour, still determined to get my way but giving Mother time to calm down before I tried again. I saw her again just before dinner.
    â€˜I’m going, Mother, whether you like it or not,’ I said in as calm and mature a voice as I could muster. ‘You can’t live my life for me forever.’ I was on my way to the laundry to iron the dress I intended to wear, a rather short pastel creation which I had been keeping for just this occasion. For my first ‘date’, as the Americans called it.
    Mother looked at me coldly. ‘If you dare to wear that skimpy thing, you will not be allowed back inside this flat,’ she said, flicking the dress with her hand contemptuously. I sighed with relief: we were no longer arguing about whether or not I would be allowed to go, but about what I would wear.
    As it transpired, I did wear the pastel pink dress that night. Tanya had remained strictly neutral during the first part of the argument, but when the style of my dress was the only issue, she came in heavily on my side. ‘She’s young, after all, Julia,’ she said. ‘If you can’t wear something chic when you’re Nona’s age, when can you?’
    I’d smiled my thanks across the dinner table.
    Tim picked me up in a green Triumph two-seater, and as we spun through the night towards the Plaza Cinema he told me all about it. ‘Bought her this afternoon from Mickey’s Cars in Batu Road,’ he said proudly. ‘She’s had an owner or two but I think she’s sound enough. I needed something reliable to get me to and from Sungei Slim, so I took the plunge.’ He paused and shot me a glance. ‘In a way, I bought her for you, Nona. I needed something appropriate to collect you in tonight.’
    I blushed with pleasure.
    I can’t say I remember much about The Little Minister , except that John Beal, the male lead, looked a bit of a drip. But I do recall that I was just a little disappointed when Tim took me straight home. I had rather expected a fight of some sort, with Tim trying to convince me to sit with him under the moon. But as we pulled up at Parry Drive he explained. ‘This is the first time I’ve taken you out,’ he said. ‘A girl’s mother always worries the first time, because the fellow could be an axe-murderer for all she knows. So one brings her daughter home almost before the dinner things have been put away. That concerns mother, who thinks that her lovely daughter might not be quite the hit with the fellows that she should be. So next time, mother actually hopes her little dear will come in late, to prove she has what it takes to win a man.’
    â€˜You absolute beast!’ I said, almost angry. ‘Do fellows really play games like that? I think it’s horrid!’
    Tim chuckled. ‘All’s fair in love and war, Nona,’ he said.