On the first day of the new term, Molly gets up early to try out the makeup that Mum gave her for Christmas. (I'll walk in wearing makeup and everyone will notice me and I'll be popular like Tim…)
Molly opens up the little plastic case and chooses an eyeshadow. It's the colour of a Green Woodpecker and she applies it all over each eyelid. Then she gets out the mascara and begins applying it to her eyelashes. Mum's advice of concentrating on the mirror rather than the wand is harder than it looks. The girl nearly pokes herself in the eye, but she manages to coat her lashes with the black goo. Then she takes out the powder – it's a bit too dark, but maybe if she only uses a little, nobody will notice. Finally, the lipstick: pink, her favourite colour. She applies a thick coating and then steps back and looks in the mirror. Her face startles her.
(I can't go out like this!)
Panicked, she picks up her soap and begins washing away the garish colours. Ten minutes later, her face is clean but a bit red from the vigorous scrubbing.
Molly's greatest fear is that she'll never get the hang of makeup.
A/N: Green Woodpeckers are yellowish-green with a spot of red on their heads. (Wikipedia has pictures if you're interested.) Molly might've made the connection because the dead bird she looked at in Chapter 1 was a Green Woodpecker.