Ch. 8 When Owen leaves to spend the evening with his friends, Mara runs down to the laundry room. She hears the music again and finds a secret passageway to an exotic world.
The Other Side
Chapter nine
The next day I pushed back the covers before my alarm clock rang. "Feeling groovy," I sang.
"Not," Owen groaned and pulled the covers over his head.
I followed a rich aroma to my first mug of coffee. One tasted so good it led to another. Gazing out the kitchen window, I wondered was there really a bunny living inside my laundry room wall? Exactly where did I go last night?
The clock on the microwave screamed at me, You're going to be late for work. Boogie!
I flew from the bathroom to the bedroom to the front door and down the sidewalk. The bus raced me to the stop, but I won and climbed on.
"Good morning," the driver said.
"Good? It's magical," I told him.
Halfway through the morning, a customer called to thank me for being so patient with her.
"Feeling," I sang in the stall of the woman's washroom.
"Groovy," someone sang in reply.
My...boss...stood at the sink. "So, you're a Simon and Garfunkel fan, too, eh?" She dried her hands. "I heard that a customer called to thank you. Keep up the good work." She smiled...at...me.
I drifted on fluffy white clouds to the end of my shift.
***
My route to the bus stop led me past a mom-and-pop shop, a bookstore, a bank, and a second-hand clothing store. On one day or another, I'd stopped at them all except the rag shop. I always sped past it at a quick clip without even peeking, but not that day. That day I looked. The ivory dress with small purple flowers had a full skirt and wide sleeves.
Bells chimed as I pushed the door open. I thought the store would be messy and smell like someone's attic, but it was bright and clean. Clothing was organized under calligraphy signs. Baroque music played. Light bounced off the mirrored wall behind the sales counter.
"Welcome to Mary Claire's." The sales clerk was stylishly dressed in what appeared to me to be a look right out of a 1960s copy of Vogue.
"I'd like to see..."
"Ah, the dress."
Was she a mind reader? Or
had she simply noticed me outside transfixed by it?
She removed the dress from the display window and led me past the mirrored wall to the first of three dressing rooms.
I pulled the dress down over my head and the transformation was immediate. My mousy brown hair appeared two shades lighter. My eyes shone and my skin glowed. Of course, I bought the dress.
On this blog in August...
Every Sunday and Wednesday in August
from Sunday, August 1 to Wednesday, August 25
I will continue to publish installments of
The Other Side
until...
Sunday, August 29
Book Review
Skinny Legs and All
Tom Robbins
