Chapter 5

Besides, for her part, parading around barefoot outside home was fun…and freeing. Especially in February. And this carpet felt good.

“Ta-daaaa!” she announced. She gave her blonde tresses a flip to complement her first fitting du jour.

Lizzy-Beth turned her way, along with a salesgirl she’d begun chatting up. Zoe heard her girlfriend wolf-whistle at her and felt her cheeks redden…and just a bit more as Lizzy wound her finger in an imperative circular motion. “Now twirl for us.”

Zoe giggled, stood on tippy-toe and performed a slow 360°. She heard another wolf-whistle follow.

“What do you think?” Lizzy asked the salesgirl, whose nametag read CLARISSA.

Clarissa nodded approvingly. “I could go gay for her.”

Lizzy-Beth laughed as Zoe turned to make sure she’d really heard what she thought she heard.

“Well, hey, now, don’t get too carried away there; she’s mine. But, I do like a woman who gets right to the point. And, eh,” she paused to readdress Zoe, “I’d say that’s a ringing endorsement, huh, babe?”

Zoe changed back into her arrival clothes (minus nylons, which were stuffed in her purse) and emerged, dress in hand. The prospect of the day’s first purchase excited Lizzy, but also reminded her of something. She unzipped her own purse to find payment means.

“Yeah…” she confirmed, digging and sifting. She turned back to Clarissa. “Hey, Clare? I’ve had this purse for ages. It’s getting kinda beat-up, and it’s shrinking too. I can’t find a gosh-damn thing in it. Have you got anything a little bigger, or easier to organize?”

“Oh, I think we could find something that suits your fancy,” said Clarissa. She led her to the accessories department, Zoe scampering behind like a puppy. A dozen or three handbags later, Lizzy-Beth finally decided on her new pocketbook companion.

It was a black leather trapeze crossbody, pre-bedazzled in a crosshatch pattern with every color of the rainbow represented. It looked like bright fluorescent lines dancing in the dark. She loved it. She also loved that the inside was lined in white for easy visibility and access, and that its separate compartments were just ubiquitous. It was eye-catching without being obnoxiously loud, not too small or too unwieldy, and virtually impossible to lose one’s belongings in. It might as well’ve had Lizzy’s name literally written all over it. Its price—a bit more than double that of the maxi dress—made Lizzy-Beth hesitant, but her girlfriend insisted money was no object.

“Omigod, honey-bear, that is effing perfect!” Zoe very nearly swore. “No kidding, you have to lock that baby down. And I’ll tell you why: I like my purse, but the more I look at that beauty, the less special mine seems. And if you dunno if you want it…” She shrugged. “…Well, I might just have to snatch it from you and buy it for myself.”

“Oh, you don’t have to compete over it,” said Clarissa. “We can order a unit for you too. You can pick it up as soon as we get it in.”

“Um, ix-nay, Clarissa,” Zoe uttered. “Thou shalt not lead me into temptation. I don’t really want it myself; I was just trying to make a point. I want Lizzy to have it, ’cause it’s so perfect for her.”

“Point taken, darling,” said Lizzy-Beth. Turning back to Clarissa, she added, “I think it’s a better idea for me to have it anyway. My girlfriend sometimes gets a little rough with her purse when she’s had a bad day.”

Zoe laughed. “She’s right. Besides, her birthday’s coming up.”

“Really?!” Clarissa turned back to Lizzy-Beth. “Well, that is an occasion! When’s the big day?”

“Oh, actually, not for a couple more weeks yet, Clare. Early next month, March 3rd.”

“Well, how nice!” exclaimed Clarissa. “Well, I wouldn’t impose so much as to invite myself to your party or anything, but perhaps I could give you an early present. How would you feel if I was able to knock fifty percent off the price?”

Four eyebrows jumped. “You…you can do that?” asked Zoe.

“Well, here’s the thing,” explained Clarissa, lowering her voice a notch. “I’d have to ring up the merchandise as is, to have the receipts in order and everything. I can’t really authorize a markdown on my own. But I could get around it by enclosing your receipt in the bag along with half the money…directly from my own personal…purse.”

Lizzy-Beth and Zoe almost synchronically began shaking their heads.

“Oh, no, no, please…” said Lizzy.

“W-we couldn’t let you do that,” Zoe overlapped her.

“Of course we couldn’t,” Lizzy added. “It would be wrong. We barely even know you, Clare.”

“Oh, please let me,” Clarissa pleaded. “Birthdays mean so much to me. When someone tells me their birthday’s anywhere in sight, I just so much wanna give them something. Or do them a nice favor. And if it makes you feel weird or awkward, you might be interested to know that my birthday’s on April 11th. You can always come back to the store and give me something,” she grinned at them.

Zoe and Lizzy-Beth exchanged glances. That was a pretty persuasive argument.

“Well, okay,” Lizzy agreed, now admittedly without much hesitation. The money wasn’t really important, but in any case, she wanted this thing. And she really did need a new purse, not to mention a new system of organization. She grinned back at Clarissa.

“But only because you insist.”

“I do,” Clarissa confirmed, as a figure wandered into earshot. “Let’s just please not let my boss find out.”

“Let me find out what, Clarissa?”

The salesgirl froze. Sure enough, that was the voice of her boss and store manager Marsha. Her tone sounded curious and suspicious. She wasn’t a fan of employees doing things work-related behind her back. Waiting for an answer, she crossed her arms behind Clarissa, whose face was awash in worry. It looked like she was in trouble. She’d said those last nine words just a bit too audibly. A few moments passed as Lizzy and Zoe gazed at them, and back to each other. They didn’t want Clarissa to be in trouble either. She’d been so nice to them. They felt the need to jump to her rescue. Lizzy-Beth quickly threw together an explanation in her mind and piped up first.

“Uh, well, you see, Miss…Boss…Lady,” she began informing Marsha, “Clare was just telling us how very much you mean to her as a boss. And so much so, in fact, she was thinking of doing something special for you…even though Boss’s Day’s not for eight more months yet. So, she was thinking, eh…y’know, since there’s so much time and all, that…maybe she…and-or the others here in the store could, um…send you on a…a-a special trip or something! To anywhere you wanna go, since there’re eight whole months to arrange it.”

“R-right! That’s right,” Zoe said, backing up her story. “She just, uh…wanted it to be a surprise…w-I mean, well, until she could find out where to book it. That’s why she didn’t want you to know. She figured you’d never suspect a thing eight whole months in advance.”

Marsha’s expression had already completely altered during Lizzy’s part of the explanation. Her arms uncrossed and fell to her sides.

“My goodness, you’re kidding!” Marsha exclaimed, standing behind an agape Clarissa who only stared at her two customers in awe.

“Oh, and now I’ve ruined the surprise!” her boss said. “Well, I’m so sorry to spoil it, Clarissa, but you know something?” She put her arm around the still dumbfounded salesgirl’s shoulders. “I’m actually glad I found this out now. Because you see, Clarissa, I’ve recently made the decision that you deserve a raise, and it’s time to lay it on ya. And I was debating with myself over how much to give you…”

Now in Marsha’s direction stared three agog faces. Clarissa’s mouth descended open as her hazel eyes lit up.

“…And now having such wonderful news come to light, I guess I’d better make it generous, to help you afford this lavish trip for me!”

CLUNK! This was the sound the astonished Clarissa’s jaw made hitting the floor. Marsha headed off on her way.

“Expect to see the raise reflected in your paycheck starting next Friday, Clarissa. Now get your butt right back to work. And happy shopping to the two of you zany young ladies!” she waved to Lizzy and Zoe.

Another second later, she was gone. Still amazed—in an unmistakably very very good way—Clarissa shook her head.

“…I can’t believe it!”

“Whew. Uh…neither can I, quite frankly,” commented Lizzy-Beth. “Clare, my friend, I, eh…I didn’t know that would happen. I was just trying to get your you-know-whats outta the fire.”

Clarissa was elated. Fighting off the urge to crush Lizzy in a huge hug, she took her hand with both her own, and shook vigorously.

“Oh, thank you!” she gushed. “So much! I don’t know what to say! This…this is incredible!”

“Hey, that’s all right!” Lizzy-Beth replied. “It’s all cool, no need for thanks. Y’know, I’ll be honest with ya, after I told her that, I thought, oh crap, now Clare’s out a small fortune, the literally poor thing. But, now…well, even if you did get a nice big raise…we could still chip in for the boss lady’s vacation to help you out. Or at least I could; I am kinda responsible for it, I guess.”

“Oh, gosh, no,” Clarissa shook no. “You’ve helped me out plenty already. I can handle it. I mean, I was scared Marsh might dock me, suspend me or even fire me. I would be in trouble if I lost my job. But I’m definitely not poor. Especially now!”

She took them to the register, rang up Zoe’s dress and Lizzy-Beth’s purse, and stuck to her word about slipping Lizzy half the money back from her own pocket. “And you’re all set, ladies! Please come again! Preferably sometime around April 11th!”

Lizzy-Beth stopped to transfer her carryables from drab old purse to beautiful new purse before they left. She and Zoe were all smiles coming out of Forever 21 to the main mall. Zoe clasped her hand.

“That was such a fantastic thing you did for her, Lizzy,” she cooed. “I feel even more attracted to you.”

Lizzy gave a shrug. Not to make it into less than it was, but doing good deeds and helping people just came naturally to her. It may not have been on quite the same level as saving a drowning swimmer’s life, but it gave her an idea. She snapped her fingers.

“That’s what we’re gonna do today, Zoe. We’re gonna help people, whenever possible. And not just for them; for us too. Remember that horrible day you had? Well, you just hit a streak of bad luck. And good deeds erase bad luck.”

This logic struck Zoe a bit bizarre, but she had to admit Lizzy’s heart couldn’t have been in a righter place. And their next opportunity to be good Samaritans came along just a short while later—past New York & Company, F.Y.E. and Yankee Candle—as Zoe stopped by some vending machines for a soda. She fed in her money, pressed the button, and the machine spat out a 20-ounce Diet Coke and two quarters change. As she bent to retrieve them, something underneath the machine caught her eye.

“What…” Gasp. “Oh my gosh!” she hissed. “Lizzy, c’mere!”

“What’s up, sweetie?”

Zoe showed her. “Andrew Jackson! He’s what’s up! I just found a $20 under the machine!”

“Yeah! Talk about a bonus! You were right, babe; my luck’s already turning around!”

“Whoa, hold it, Zoe. We can’t keep that. It’s not ours.”

“Lizzy, I know it’s not ours. But God only knows how long it’s been down there. And what’re we supposed to do? Just scream out, ‘Hey, who lost twenty dollars?’ right in the middle of the mall? How’s that not gonna end with us getting stampeded??”

“No, we’ll take it to the mall service booth. They’ll know what to do with it.”

Zoe was slightly disappointed, but conceded they should be honest. She slipped the lost cash in her purse, took a first swig of Diet Coke, and they moved on. They didn’t luck out at Six or The Gap, but found some nice shades at the Sunglass Hut. Lizzy-Beth got a pair of Aviators, which were impossible not to look good in. And Zoe picked out a pair of perfectly round rose lenses.

“Hey, check me out, I’m John Lennon!” she giggled, slipping them on. “Now I can at least look amazing.”

Zoe liked the sunglasses so much, she decided to keep them on, halfway down her nose. Passing next by Spencer’s, Marbles and Godiva, they narrowly avoided being bumped into, by a teenage boy whose attention was elsewhere. He held a bottle of Sprite in one hand and looking all around the floor. It seemed he was desperately searching for something.

Lizzy-Beth suddenly knew. She nudged Zoe, nodded to the boy and whispered in her ear. “It’s his.”

“We can’t know that for sure. He might just be looking for his-his…I dunno, retainer or something.”

“Okay, we’ll ask. But discreet.” Lizzy turned his way and approached. “‘Scuse me, dude, can we help you find something?”