There are great deals of methods for a gown to die. The sudden, prime-of-life death: somebody holding a cherry popsicle walks into you, as well as you’re a goner. You get caught in the damaged spoke of a bicycle wheel, feel that triangular tear; it’s all over. Or you can die of old age: you get used as well as used as well as used once again as well as then someday you come out of the washer more fading as well as used areas than great whole cloth, as well as you get torn up for rags.
Sometimes, though, you just go into a type of limbo. A half-death. somebody altered sizes, as well as it wasn’t you, so you get pushed further as well as further back in the closet, so much to ensure that you can’t even truly tell the difference between the door being open as well as the door being shut anymore, as well as you just … doze. sometimes for a long time. sometimes for years. longer than you believe you have, anyway.
And then (if your story is like mine), the door opens again, as well as not only does it open, you come out. whatever comes out! The gowns as well as the hats as well as the fits as well as the sweaters, as well as the moths in the sweaters, as well as the dust! dust everywhere! You’re thankful you’re not a dark dress, since the dark dresses’ shoulders truly show the dust.
It’s hard, waking up again. Coming to life again. When you’re being worn, being used regularly, it’s like the aliveness of the body you’re on seeps into you, as well as keeps you going when you’re on the hanger. however it can seep right out again, as well as after so long without being worn, the sparks of aliveness get further as well as further apart, like firefly flashes, there in the dark closet.
So there all of us were, hauled out of the wardrobe half-dead, as well as hanging on a rack in the middle of the room. whatever was laid out where it shoudn’t have been — all her underthings, or at least the nicest slips, on the bed, with her gloves as well as her purses, as well as all her dressing table things on the bureau, laid out in rows, not like they would be on her dressing table at all (that was gone, I don’t understand where it went). All her shoes on the floor, lined up in rows like a class picture. The wardrobe door was open as well as I might see it was empty; whatever was out in the open. whatever looked so much duller than I remembered. Older.
There were women moving around, fussing as well as sorting as well as chatting. None of them were using dresses. They were using soft knit pants, as well as white tennis shoes, as well as long knit shirts that came down well past their hips. They all had short sleeves, as well as great deals of them had things written on their shirts. I keep in mind one stated “COLORADO”, however I didn’t believe that might be her name. Over the shirts a few of them used bit half aprons, however they weren’t genuine aprons. They were heavy canvas, as well as all one color — not quite at all.
I’m not sure exactly how long I was hanging there before I started noticing all this; it might have been a day, perhaps longer, before things stopped being only light as well as color as well as noise as well as started being things I mainly recognized, nevertheless strange. I do understand that when I lastly started paying attention, it was early morning. extremely early, with light coming in at that angle that means dawn wasn’t so extremely long ago, however the women were energetic. They all had white paper cups, extremely large, with shiny white lids that they drank through. It smelled just like coffee, however the cups were huge.
Pretty soon, though, one of the women stated “Oh, Lord, right here they come!” as well as the other women provided that type of groaning laugh when you’re half-dreading, half-anticipating something. I keep in mind I utilized to hear it when I was still being worn, as well as she had the women over for bridge as well as there was just time to play one last hand before they had to satisfy the youngsters after school. That type of laugh.
All of a unexpected the home was full of people! mainly women, however likewise men. The guy were in white or black tennis shoes, however leather, not canvas, as well as shorts, as well as more tee shirts with things written on them. The women were mainly in pants or shorts, too. Dungaree shorts! as well as always, always sneakers, or those thong sandals that I’d only ever seen on the beach. as well as everybody was so big! Not just tall, however round, too. They were all choosing up her things, as well as bring them off. Armloads of them, sometimes. One guy walked with the space with all her records, the Perry Como as well as the Rosemary Clooney as well as all the old 78s — just everything. He might barely bring them all. He just took a look around at all her underthings there on the bed, laid out like chilly cuts, as well as asked one of the aprons, “Any tools?” What was he going to do to those records that he needed tools? I didn’t hear the answer, though, since I got grabbed up.
She had me by the shoulders as well as was flipping me this method as well as that. I don’t believe there was an inch of me that didn’t get touched, or pulled, or held as much as the light. I barely got a glimpse of her, what with all the somersaults of being turned inside out as well as back right side out again, as well as then I was squished between a wool coat I didn’t keep in mind as well as that plaid day gown that always got put back in the wardrobe since she pulled across the shoulders, as well as we were headed towards the front door.
Slam! one of the apron-ladies moved her huge white paper cup aside just in time, as well as there all of us were in a stack on a table, as well as the apron woman said, “Let me see … two dresses, a coat, five handkerchiefs, as well as four books — exactly how about twenty-five?”
“Twenty-five if I can take that box of zippers as well as things over there, as well …”
“Oh, sure, honey, I believe we priced that whole set as well as kaboodle at three dollars. I can provide you that.”
And then we were all bundled up together, the coat as well as the plaid gown as well as the zippers as well as the books as well as me, as well as went right out the door.
All this time, I hadn’t seen her anywhere, I mean the other her, the one that utilized to wear me. I didn’t truly expect to, anyway, there was an emptiness around, in spite of her things being everywhere. In fact, all her things being there made her being gone more obvious, if you understand what I mean.
Next thing I understood I was spread across a different bed.
“And look at this one! The pockets!” she was saying, to the guy in the room. He looked a bit bored, as well as it took me a minute to recognize that she was speaking about me. nobody had ever mentioned my pockets before, as well as definitely not to a man.
I believe it got a bit as well much for me then, as well as I don’t keep in mind much else up until I felt the nice warm massage of the iron over me. I felt just-washed — I must have been just washed — as well as I was being ironed, which, truly, is just the very best feeling. You can be all jangly as well as cross-grained as well as overwhelmed however the iron just makes everything go away, as well as there you are fresh as well as smooth again. It’s much better than anything.
Then she put me on. I was being used again! It was different than I remembered; it’s difficult to explain since it should be the same, being worn, however of program even though anyone who can in shape inside you should feel mainly the same, it’s still different. The breathing is different as well as the moving is different, as well as the hands in the pockets are different hands, as well as so even though it is almost the same, it’s just not quite.
Funnily enough, though, it was the using that was the most familiar, since whatever else is so different! It’s almost like a different planet. I’ve never seen her touch a vacuum cleaner, for instance, as well as there’s a machine that laundries the dishes, but
more than half the time the guy feeds it, not her. She spends most of her days with this thing that appears like a teeny television connected to some type of typewriter — hours as well as hours staring at it as well as typing, however the paper doesn’t come out of it, however out of one more box in a different place, as well as even then she does about ten times as much typing as ever shows up on paper, as far as I can tell. as well as she talks on two different phones, neither of which are linked to anything. just floating available in the air! She walks around the location with them, as well as sometimes, she even answers one in the car, with a bit earpiece, like a hearing aid, only smaller. as well as likewise in the car, she has a bit shiny white box, as well as it links to the radio, although I desire it wouldn’t. I mean — it’s just not music, that’s all. as well as even though I believe I comprehend the words “roller” as well as “boogie”, they make no sense put together, as well as I definitely don’t understand why they have to be complied with by a word I didn’t believe might be stated on the radio! as well as weirdest of all, the television (which is color, by the way) has a bar-thing you can point at it, about the size of a hairbrush, as well as it modifications the channels as well as even freezes it! as well as when you come back from getting ice cream you can make it begin again. Of course, she’s mainly watching firefighters utilize foul language as well as misbehave, which I don’t comprehend at all. She doesn’t utilize that language herself (or at least I haven’t heard her) however the music as well as the television are full of words I barely understood existed, before.
It’s strange being to life again, however I’m not upset about it. I like being worn, of course, as well as I’m sure I’ll get utilized to that … language intime. The only unfortunate thing is that it’s getting harder as well as harder to keep in mind exactly how it felt to be used by the other one, the one so long ago. I can’t even keep in mind her name. I believe it was Elaine, however I can’t be sure, as well as the coat as well as the plaid gown don’t know. I believe they weren’t ever used as much as me, so their memories are even fainter. We stopped speaking about it.
Almost all the other gowns in her wardrobe are like me, revived Rip Van Winkles. a few of them like to talk about her behind her back. They don’t like that she doesn’t wear gloves, or hats, as well as they dislike being used with sneakers. They talk about their old owners, however I believe a great deal of it is just lint — they can’t all have been used to spheres as well as important luncheons of the Women’s Club as well as so forth. I keep myself to myself, mostly. I’m quiet. I’m just happy to be awake again. I like seeing the wardrobe door open. I don’t even care about the sneakers.
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