3. Purple Dresses
Nerit walked into the large room used as the “store” of the fort.
Everything salvaged from the town’s various stores was arranged in boxes and plastic bins. Manny and Peggy had worked hard to organize everything. Every box was labeled. One long table had small boxes full of personal hygiene products. She noted the box with the condoms was steadily diminishing. She had heard Shane mentioning that they were on his shopping list as he had headed out earlier along with cigarettes and booze. The younger people of the fort were finding comfort in each other. She could not blame them.
Snagging a box of Marlboro Lights, she tucked it into the plastic bag she was using as a shopping cart and headed to the far side of the room where gloves, hats and scarves were grouped. She needed a new pair of gloves, preferably leather.
Coming around the corner of the aisle, she found Katie on the floor going through boxes labeled “Women’s Dresses”. She looked frustrated as she dug down to the bottom of one of the big bins.
“Needing a new dress?” Nerit asked as she began to look through the box of gloves.
“I got it into my head that I need one for the party tonight,” Katie confessed. Next to her was a very sexy pair of high heels. “I found the shoes, but no dress. ”
Nerit pulled out a pair of soft leather gloves and began to try them on. “Nice shoes. ”
“Yeah, I think they belonged to one of those women that got eaten in the dining room. I asked Peggy about them and she said they were found kicked under a table in a hall. She thinks the woman took them off to run easier. Lucky for me, they fit. ”
Nerit flexed her hand in the glove and pretended to fire a gun. They were a little stiff, but leather did tend to soften up and mold to fit. “So, what brought on this need for a new dress?”
Katie looked up at her, her expression a little embarrassed, but a glow seeming to emanate from her face. She looked happy.
Nerit grinned. “Oh, Travis. ”
Katie laughed. “That obvious, huh?”
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With a slight nod, Nerit said, “Well, yes, if someone was paying attention. You’ve played it very low-key. He has been far more obvious. ”
Yanking another dress out, Katie looked at it, then sighed.
“This town wasn’t the hub of fashion,” Nerit said.
“Yeah, I noticed. ” Katie pulled out another box and began to look through it.
Nerit slid the gloves into her bag and walked over to a box filled with Halloween costumes. It had been part of the overstock in the grocery store that had been taken in soon after this had all started. She began to look through the items, her mind twirling ideas around.
“What color do you like to wear?”
“Purple. Lydia always liked me in purple or blue,” Katie pulled out a plain navy dress several sizes too large for her frame and sighed.
Drawing a purple sorceress outfit from the box of costumes, she looked at Katie. “Like this color?”
“I am not wearing a Halloween costume. ”
“If we can locate a sewing kit, I can modify it,” Nerit assured her.
Katie stood up and looked at the dress. “Really?”
Nerit nodded. “Oh, yes. It won’t be as fancy as anything from Versace, but I can make it work. ”
“I’m desperate. If you think you can do it, I’m all for it,” Katie said with excitement and quickly began to look for sewing supplies.
Nerit laid the dress down on the floor and began to turn it this way and that, thinking hard, ideas flicking in and out of her mind, trying to figure out what she could do.
“I am glad that you are moving on,” Nerit said thoughtfully.
“Letting go is always hard. ”