A Dragonfly's Dream

Chapter XXX - Wings

DREAM JOURNAL

Wings

I stared at the numerous dragonflies lined up on the window sill. My sister Leigh took one of them by the tail. I was afraid she had used too much force on the poor thing and it had died. I looked at its still, unmoving body, and touched its legs gently.

I felt relieved when it started moving! It didn't die. I took the poor thing outside and set it free. I was about to come back to the house when I heard a soft buzzing sound.

I turned and was surprised to see that the winged creature had returned.

.........

"Hi. I'm looking for Rose Beige. Do you have it?" I asked the saleslady.

"I'm sorry, we don't. But we have Rose Glow." She suggested. She had this friendly demeanor that I was sure made customers feel at ease. I felt an instant camaraderie.

What she said disappointed me though. "Um...you don't have stock for Rose Beige?"

"No, Ma'am. In fact, I have never heard of Rose Beige. We don't have that kind of shade." She said, matter-of-factly.

"Really? That's odd. My friend specifically told me there was such a shade." I said, thinking about Charise's instructions. "Are they the same thing?"

"Yes, they are." She answered confidently.

I looked at her and debated on how much I can trust that statement. Maybe Charise was wrong? I mean, this girl worked here, so, of course she would be familiar with their product. Besides, she was friendly. I liked her customer service. I decided to go for it. "Okay, in that case, I'll get the Rose Glow."

Actually, I was in a real hurry. I had an appointment with a client. Charise wanted me to get the darned blush on for Maya's birthday. And I was like, okay, so they were one and the same shade. Great. End of story.

That was until I called Charise and told her what happened. The amount of shock and reprimand in her voice was...scary. "I told you to get Rose Beige! That's Maya's favorite shade. It's the only one she uses!"

I put the receiver away from my ear a little bit, before answering. "Well, the sales clerk told me they were the same!"

"Well, they're not." She said, flatly.

I thought about the saleslady who sold it to me. I remembered how nice and friendly she was. I've been had. "I'll go back and have it exchanged."

I went back to the mall and saw her standing by the same cosmetics store. She stood there innocently, totally unaware of the events that were to follow. I walked towards her with pretty much the same sense of purpose as a lion moving towards its prey.

"Excuse me..." I tapped her shoulder. "I'd like to have this exchanged please."

She looked at me with that wide eyed, innocent look in her eyes. "I'm sorry, we have a no return, no exchange policy."

I had expected such resistance. "I don't care about your policy. You will change it or return my money."

She looked at me, and then at the package I was holding up to her. Her face suddenly shifted from an aura of friendliness to that of defiance. I could see that she hated my guts. "We really can't do that."

I smiled at the challenge. That was just too bad for her. I gave her the easy way out. "I'd like to talk to your supervisor."

And thus, the ordeal began. An hour or so later, I had gotten into a heated argument with the supervisor. Probably in her early forties, that woman possessed a stern face carved with toughness on every angle. Predictably, she had tried to pin the blame on me, insisting it was all my fault, and that they were in no way responsible. I stood my ground and maintained that it wasn't. She sized me up, saw the determination in my face, and finally decided to refer me to their accounting department. By then I was on a roll. I was determined to have the wretched make-up exchanged even if it killed me. From the corner of my eye, I glanced at the poor sales clerk who had made the mistake. It seemed she was about to burst into tears at all the trouble I was causing.