365 Days (Part 1) | ✓

150. Magazine

150. Magazine: Randomly flip to a page in a magazine and write using the first few words you see as an opening line.

Bliss Victoria

"I love working with luxurious fabrics. They take on a life of their own."

Mary Ann Lousie Roberts -- her name was often said all together because that was who she was. She had to be taken all together, and that was not necessarily a large task. She was a small woman, both in stature and in apparent personality. There was not mch about Mary Ann Lousie Roberts that warranted notice, except her love of fabric.

Perhaps Mary Ann was one of those souls that held a large value underneath an exterior of simplicity. Perhaps her heart was made of gold. No one will ever know, because no one ever troubled themselves to find out -- no one but me and you. For Mary Ann did nothing to attract anyone. She had a family, she had a few friends. She did not have a boyfriend, and no one knew how she felt about that because no one opened up that discussion. Not to say she would have minded --  but that's also not to say she would have minded. Mary Ann Lousie Roberts was a mystery, and she would always remain so, because she was one no one cared enough to solve.

She did have one attribute that prevented her from being a forgotten ghost: She loved cloth. Any type of it, any color, and any texture. She loved to run her hands along the fabric, feeling the grain and fibers beneath her sensitive fingertips. She loved to stare at the rich colors with her sharp eyes. She loved to sort through her collection time and time again. Maybe Mary Ann didn't realize it, but all of her pleasure was afforded to her through her love of fabric.

She had a store, and maybe people should have applauded her efforts in running a store, but they didn't notice any particular exertion. It was a store like Mary Ann -- neither popular or unpopular. It was simply there. It would likely always be open, as long as Mary Ann would be alive, just like Mary Ann Louise Roberts would always be around.

Of course, it was a store of fabrics, called Woman of the Cloth. Mary Ann was the owner and main employee. She occasionally hired a cashier, but she didn't like when they inevitably quit and moved on to bigger and better jobs. She wanted someone who would stick around as much as she did, but few had the sort of loyalty that Mary Ann had.

That was another of her virtues: She was loyal. Did anyone notice? No, but she didn't notice anyone didn't notice, so I suppose to her it didn't matter.

Funnily enough, Mary Ann Louise Roberts did not sew. She did not use the fabrics for herself. She merely liked to have them around. No one knew why she had never taken up the craft.

See, she was one of those women that people know of, but they don't know. She was liked by everyone, and neither hated or loved by anyone. She was just her.

Her customers looked past her. After all, she was a plain, soft-spoken woman. However, I think we can be assured she noticed them. She was a woman with very little life. It was natural she should look at others.

Mary Ann noticed what people did and what people liked. She knew that the mother and daughter coming in were going to remake the mother's dress for the daughter. She knew that the young woman browsing among the products but never buying anything was unemployed. She knew that people were more than they seemed.

No one looked at Mary Ann, so no one saw her eyes roving around her shop, glorifying in the delectable colors of the fabrics and observing her customers. She noticed that a woman had removed her wedding ring since last coming in. She noticed that every time a girl came in, she had more piercings. She noticed the older lady who came in with her grandchildren always bought child-themed patterns.

Mary Ann liked to think she sent her customers off with her goodwill. That maybe happiness was stored in ghethe weaved threads of fabric for them like it was for her. That maybe, though she was small and unimportant, a smile could do something for someone.

*

A/N: 150 day mark! You know, for each of these little short stories or poems, I want to expand them into a full story, and each time I write one, I plan a whole world and plot for it. Later on, I bet this story will be a gold mine of story ideas for me, if I didn't already have too many!

Thanks for everyone's support! Every vote, comment, and add is my motivation to continue until Day 365. ❤