Elizabeth in Ooo

Shopping Time

The three women bustled around the dressing room, hanging up the dresses on the racks. As that did, I saw that the two other unidentified dress carries were two young girls of about six.

One had long blonde hair that swept her knees, bright blue eyes, and on her was a soft periwinkle skirt and white blouse.

I assumed the other was her sister. The other little girl had short, curly blonde hair that was no longer than her shoulders. Her eyes were slightly darker, and her skirt was a peachy color.

They reminded me of an old picture of Aunt Linda and my mom.

They were posing in front of the house their parents had just bought, their right arms linked. My mom had her thick glasses on the tip of her nose, and her short pink hair was up in a ponytail, her bangs brushing her eyebrows. Aunt Linda's hair was still purple and long, but she also had bangs. They both wore the same base outfit: an old pair of overalls and blouse. At that time, there were cameras, but the one they owned didn't do color. They both couldn't remember anything more about their outfits, but these two little girls were a throwback I wasn't even apart of.

"Elizabeth? Dear, are you okay?" Engagement Princess snapped her fingers in front of my face.

"U-uh yeah?" I coughed, sputtering from my daze. Hopefully I hadn't dazed out too bad.

"We-we asked you what stack you wanted to start with?" The princess laughed nervously, patting my shoulder.

All around the room, the walls were lined with racks of dresses. There were long ones and short ones, plain colored garments or patterned pieces. All of them together made my head spin in a blur.

"Surprise me!" I smiled falsely, even snorted a laugh, but all these dresses made me feel trapped. Like I was in a spinning room and everything was closing in on me.

Engagement princess laughed and that's when I realized the two little girls were already pulling dresses. Before we even started, the princess handed me a beige top. It look like a bra with no straps, no cups, just like the chest of a t-shirt. "Slide this on over your own garment, and take your own off. We will fetch you one with more support, but this is just for the strapless dresses."

I did so, and the two little girls waved goodbye, wishing me well, and scurried out. As soon as they did it was time for business.

Engagement princess clapped her hands, excitedly. She tore a rubber band from her wrist and tied my hair up in a sloppy bun. "Ready?" She asked, closing her eyes. "Now, I am fairly good at this, so I know how to help someone into a dress, with my eyes closed. However, as soon as you step in, I need you to close your eyes. Trust me; if it's ugly, you don't have to see it. If it's marvelous, we can tell you before you point out where your hip sticks out or whatever."

"Gotcha," I took a deep breath, folded up the robe, and took a step into the dress the princess had sat on the podium for me to climb into. I closed my eyes like she had wanted me to, and felt a soft fabric on my legs, then the straps on my arms.

There was silence. No one spoke. There was only the indistinct voices of shoppers, the clink of cash registers, the swipe of hanging dresses, the soft music playing overhead.

"Is it bad?" I asked, tightening my eyes. I didn't want to soak the dress with my sweat by holding onto it so I stretched them out in front of me.

She didn't say anything. All Engagement Princess did was lend me her shoulder, and I shimmied out of the dress. Before we could talk anything of it, she slipped me into another dress, feeling much more itchier.

That was how all the fittings were: I put on one, then silence, I take the dress off, repeat the process.

The first few were either itchy or soft, on the next dozen she had me twirl. After a while, I didn't really know how they felt, my body was num to the silk or irritating fabric. With a few dresses, Engagement princess had me try on heels or a head piece, and as we grew deeper into the pile, the cashier clicking grew louder, the dress pulling was almost the only noise, and the soft music couldn't be heard. It was rush hour-5:00- and the party started in three hours.