A Side Trip... Adventures in Shopping
Part1
Evelynn regarded me with a grin and a soft chuckle for a moment and then turned to watch the scenery as it passed by the window. A moment or two later, I noticed the coach coming to a stop. The door opened and the young man whom she had called Gerald had opened the door and placed the step.
Evelynn nodded to him as he helped her from the coach. He stood there expectantly, waiting for me. I am so not used to being treated as such from anyone. I think I rather like it.
I graciously accepted Gerald's hand to help me down out of the coach. I was feeling like a princess already. I quickly moved ahead to catch up with Aunt Evelynn. I didn't want to be saying anything as I was busy taking in my surroundings.
I could tell that Aunt Evelynn was amused by it all as she took my hand.
"Come on. Let's start at the top," she playfully tussled my hair and led me toward a salon door.
I tried to casually side-step the tussling, my hands instantly shooting straight to my head where my wolf ears were hiding, briefly alarmed at this, but I had nothing to worry about. My smile hadn't slipped a notch and I felt as rambunctious as a puppy as I fairly bounded through the salon door. We were greeted immediately--or rather, Aunt Evelynn was by this skinny middle aged man who ignored me but practically assaulted Evelynn.
"Dahhliinnggg!" he brushed past as if I did not exist and gave her a bear hug. He proceeded to kiss the back of her hands. "What a surprise, my dear! And what could Philipe possibly do for you today, my flower?" I couldn't get over his flamboyancy and found his accent interesting as I had never heard it before. Evelynn seemed to be enjoying the attention he was lavishing upon her.
"This is my niece Tabitha," she introduced, her eyes now on me with a smile. "As you can see, Philipe, she needs some...attention." At least she didn't come right out to say I was in desperate need of help. I admit it--the closest I've ever come to actually being in a salon was the annual haircut at the barber's to keep that shaggy mane of mine in check. I consider myself pretty low maintenance--extremely low maintenance, in fact. Okay, so low maintenance that I barely maintain.
Philipe turned to look at me as if for the very first time, a hand over his mouth and a little gasp of shock and dismay. I found it somewhat comical, myself.
"Oh, mon deau," he sighed. "You test me, yes?" He turned to Evelynn with a wink and took my hand to lead me to the back of his shop. I gave Evelynn a look of "You know what he's doing, yes?" as he lead me away. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. I guess I was feeling a bit overwhelmed as well.
Philipe wasn't saying a word as I was sat down in a chair before a sink. Before I really knew what was happening I was leaned back over the sink and my hair was suddenly wet.
"Yipes!" I gasped out in surprise which was ignored as Philipe went to work on giving my scalp a good work over. Okay. It's just a hair washing, I reassured myself and relaxed, but only slightly. My eyes remained squnched shut to keep the water out, however.
When he had finished, my head was wrapped in a towel and I was lead back the way we came with a simple "Come with me, child," which I let him blindly lead me back to another chair. Philipe was at it again, snipping, prodding and fluffing, all the while, my mind working up what he could be doing to my hair. Not that I worried too much. Since I had the power to hide certain features, I certainly had the power to "fix" a bad cut if it came to that.
"Voila!" Philipe announced and spun the chair around so I could see his latest masterpiece. I was pleasantly surprised. Was he some kind of mind reader?
"Wow!" I barely managed. "Sir, I am impressed!" I was beginning to like this being waited on-thing. A girl could get used to this. I was looking at Evelynn, since I had the feeling she was the final word on the whole thing.
Evelynn came up behind my chair to give her stamp of approval. "Good," was all she said quietly. It was all I needed to boost my ego sky-high. It wasn't everyday I got approval from anyone other than Grampa James and Granny Dan.
"Thank you, Philipe. You've proven your skills once again," Evelynn said easily as she turned to the door. "Come along, Tabitha, dear. We have more to do." I bounced out of the chair and followed.
"Thank you Philipe!" I gave him a wave on my way out. I hurried to catch up with Evelynn again, but I just couldn't help admiring Philipe's work in window reflections as we passed.
"So do you really like it? I think he did a cool job. I think that guy is some kind of mind reader. I admit I was a little nervous about it--I'm so low maintenance. But he did good. So! Where to now?"
"Now? Now we're off to buy clothes," she said in a decadent tone. Four or five shops down, she opened the door. Stepping inside was like stepping into a whole new world of color the likes I had never seen. There was something of every possible color of the rainbow and some that weren't included in the rainbow. I couldn't believe my eyes. Evelynn inhaled deeply, grinning from ear to ear while her eyes sparkled with the lights of the shop.
"Go ahead, Tabby dear," she encouraged. "Go find whatever you like as much as you like."
The magic words. She just turned me loose in the proverbial candy shop. My jaw fairly dropped and I don't think my eyes could get any bigger. I got the nerve to step up to touch the closest thing that was hanging on a rack, just to feel how expensive it was. Never in my entire life had I ever been surrounded by such decadence and luxurious clothing. I never knew they could make so many different styles of clothing and put it all in one place. For an instant, I was feeling rather overwhelmed. Where to begin?
Seeing as no shopkeeper had assaulted us yet, I took it upon myself to begin wandering the shop, making mental notes as to what struck my fancy and what didn't. I must admit that I'm one of those shoppers that makes one circuit of a store to see what jumps off the rack to "wow" me. If I don't see it on the first pass, I usually exit the store in a hurry. However, the clothing in this shop was definitely holding my interest.
For the most part, these styles of pants and shirts were like nothing I had ever seen before, but I wasn't letting that stop me, no sir! I noticed that the styles were ranging from casual to dressy. I don't do dressy very well--as a matter of fact, I've never really done dressy in my entire life. I've never been in a dress and I'm thankful that Granny Dan never tried to put me in one.
I was not acting the shy violet when it came to this. I was pulling jeans down and shirts--just about all my arms could carry--just for starters! Once my arms were full, I was looking for the nearest fitting room to go and try it all on.
A shopkeeper seemed to materialize out of nowhere and was more than helpful as I tried everything on. I just couldn't get over how everything was fitting so well and felt as comfortable as if I had simply picked a favorite, well-worn outfit out of my closet. All the while, Evelynn was browsing sweaters and would look up once every so often to make a sound that sounded like approval.
I figured it was all good for a start. With my upbringing, I had never owned much more than the shirt on my back--but then, there really wasn't much of a need for more than that aside from outgrowing something. I couldn't help it. I liked what I was wearing so much that I decided to just keep it on. I had a few more pairs of the jeans and shirts that I handed off to the shopkeeper, indicating that I wanted to take them with me. I kept my boots and was wearing a dark pair of jeans and a cute, tight little t-shirt with a smart-assed phrase across the front. I completed the look with a cowboy hat and couldn't help looking at myself in the mirror as I had never dressed up like this before. To me, this was dressed up.
"I like," I declared as I turned to try and see it all. "I think I'll keep it. Just right. I think it's a good start for now. Where to next?" Evelynn looked up at me with a big grin.
"More clothes. But this time, less casual," she said and led the way out of the shop to the next one. I eagerly followed, but my mind was really racing now.
Less casual? I thought I was less casual! I felt like royalty dressed up the way I was, all with my new do. The only thing that was coming to mind was the finery I had seen nobility and elves wear, but I never figured I'd ever come close to owning anything like that. Oh, please, don't let it be a dress!
I followed her a few more doors down and she opened an elegantly decorated door and stepped inside. The very first thing I noticed was all the mirrors. Every wall had a mirror. There were no racks, no shelves. Where were they? Just a little stool and lots of mirrors. It was unsettling. I can handle a mirror here, a mirror there. I mean, I don't mind looking in one to make sure I look presentable, but this was ridiculous.
A little old woman stepped out from behind one of the mirrors and seemed to recognize Evelynn right off the bat.
"Dahhling!" she smiled at Evelynn. "So good to see you again. You have need for Elsa's work, yes?" she inquired..
"Yes Elsa, dear. This is my niece, Tabitha. She needs to be measured and outfitted for several occasions." Evelynn replied rather formally.
"Good Dahhling. Leave it to me." Elsa responded
The old woman turned tome and offered her hand. "Come child, we dress you now." she said with a tight smile.
I suddenly felt fear and confusion. Several occasions? Like what?
I had to bite back a whimper as I tried my utmost to return the smile and took her hand. I was feeling completely like a fish out of water. I looked over at Evelynn with my puppy eyes, silently pleading for help or an explanation at best, but all I got was an encouraging nod and a reassuring smile as Elsa led me over to the stool.
"Undress, child," she instructed.
Undress? Here? Now? I was certainly not liking the openness of the room and the sudden lack of privacy. I was already feeling self conscious enough as it was with all the reflections of me from every possible angle.
Well, I sighed, I figure Evelynn knows what she's doing. I proceeded a bit reluctantly and eventually got down to my undergarments, hugging myself to ward off the sudden chill I was feeling from lack of cover. At that very moment, I felt like a pup at the vet's office--when they're sitting there with their head down and tail tucked between their legs and they know something is about to happen to them and they know they can't go anywhere. You can bet I was watching this Elsa from the corner of my eye.
Upon my disrobing, Elsa produced paper, a stub of a pencil and a measuring tape. Before I could open my mouth to ask, she began methodically measuring everything about me. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was this normal, or was I being assaulted in some strange way? But Evelynn simply watched the proceedings and did nothing to intervene.
It had all ended as abruptly as it had begun. With her last measurement she instructed me to dress again and them moved off to the side with Evelynn and was talking to her in a hushed conversation.
As I was dressing, I casually shifted my hearing to where I could catch snippets of what they were discussing. After that humiliating experience I had just been through, I just couldn't help myself. Besides, just what was so darn secret that it couldn't be discussed in front of me? Once I had finished pulling my boots back on I began to make my way toward them.
Evelynn: "...haven't seen before."
Elsa: "I know, Dahhhling, but I wanted you to know."
Evelynn: "Of course. I'm sure you'll do your best." The conversation stopped suddenly at my approach.
"Are you ready for the next stop, Tabitha, dear?" Evelynn asked.
"Shoes?" I asked brightly. "Or lunch?"
Evelynn arched that perfectly shaped eyebrow again. "Why, yes. Shoes. Unless you need lunch first," she responded cheerily.
"Oh, I'm sure we can look at shoes," I replied easily. "So was that all we needed to do here? or is there more to it? And sorry, I just have to ask, but what exactly was I being measured for?" Don't say dress. Please, don't say it was for a dress. I had never in my life been measured for clothing before, and never have I ever been caught dead in a dress.
Evelynn got serious again before answering this question, as if it puzzled her as to why I would bother to ask it. "For special occasions. You know, dinner parties, court appearances and other special events."
Okay. Not a direct line answer, but that meant a dress. I could feel my insides plummet. However, this was a gift and I did not want to be seen as rude or ungrateful or cause a scene.
"Oh," I replied with a resigned sigh and got right back onto the more pleasant topic. "Ready for shoe shopping?"
"Of course!" she sparkled back and led the way out again. A few more doors down and we had arrived at a shoe shop. The smell of leather poured out the door and into my nostrils. Evelynn held the door open for me and I went in, immediately browsing around the shop--looking, but not touching. These were expensive--I could tell by the smell. I was checking out the comfy shoes--boots mostly. Sure, I gave a glance at the fancy dressy shoes, but aside from them looking neat, they didn't hold my interest. I could not picture myself in a pair of anything with high heels. I decided to immerse myself in the boots. With my new clothes, it only seemed fitting to get me a new pair of cowboy boots.
I was at it for quite a while and was having myself a ball trying on boots and picking out ones to keep when Evelynn eventually made her way toward me.
"Tabitha, dear," she began cheerfully. "Have you considered something that would go with a dress?"
Oooo. The dreaded "D" word. I was squirming in my seat. I was suddenly feeling ashamed for no good reason. I brought her in close.
"Let me tell you a little secret," I began in a whisper. "I've never been one to dress up all fancy--never had a need before. These new clothes I just got--that's the fanciest I've ever gotten in my entire life. So I've never worn a real dress before. That's why I asked about what I was being measured for--I've never been measured for anything. So I wouldn't know what shoes went with a dress if they came up and kicked me in the tail." I was staring hard at the floor. It was true. Growing up, I never had a reason to dress up. I helped out with chores--you don't do chores in a dress. I didn't have any friends, so I was never invited out. And boys--they were flat-out afraid of me. Besides, one doesn't go traipsing around the forest in a dress. One needs clothing that functions, is comfortable and easy to run in. Besides that, I could just see myself breaking my neck in a pair of heels. You can't run in heels.
"Tabby," she said softly with compassion and took my hand into her own. "Did you forget I was here? I can help you with these things. All you need to do is ask, okay?"
"Okay," I said, feeling a little better, but was still feeling trepidation about it. "So what do you suggest?" Evelynn took me over to a section of dressy shoes that I had lightly skipped over earlier--flats, pumps and the like.
"These should do nicely," she picked out a few. "Ready for lunch?"
"Thought you'd never ask!" a wave of relief washed over me. I realized right then by the emptiness of my stomach how hungry I really was. I was a little surprised that I hadn't made any embarrassing noises with it before now. Oh, I felt I could go for a great, big, juicy, steak. Medium rare. Just walk it by the grille, and make sure it still moo's by the time it gets to me. But I had the feeling that Aunt Evelynn wouldn't want to eat so heavy in the middle of the day--or anytime of the day, what with that perfect figure of hers.
"I'm starved!" I chorused. "Did you have something in mind?--of course you do. So what's on the menu?"
"Well, let's see..." she pondered for a moment. "How do you feel about fish?"
"Fish," I mused, running the idea through my mind and deciding that I wanted more than that. "Do they serve steak as well? I could go for one of those--y'know, smell of leather means cow, means steak--call it crazy." Steak. Steak sauce. Steak skewers. Big, juicy, meaty, satisfying.--wait a sec--when did I eat last? But then, eating was never so much an act of just eating--it was a social event for me. I tend to savor my food. Sadly eating also seems to play a major role in where my emotions are at. If I get hungry, I get grumpy. When I'm fed, I'm in a happier place and so is the world around me.
"You have a point," she conceded. "Steak it is." We headed back out to the coach and I was smiling again, being self conscious enough not to openly lick my chops at the thought of steak.