“I’m looking for something a little more raspberry,” Diana said. She fingered the satin. “And maybe with a little stretch in it?” The clerk gave her a strained smile. Diana ignored her. “Oh, and a little bit of beige lace as well.”
The clerk gestured to the cutting desk. “Maybe you’ll have better luck if I get you the books.”
Diana considered. “Sounds good.” The clerk took quick steps to the desk. She hauled out three large books and set them on one side of the desk.
“I’ll just let you look through these while I get some of these cut. I’ll check back with you in a few minutes.”
Diana nodded, but didn’t bother to look up at her. She opened the first book. It thumped onto the table like an antique tome. She flipped through quickly. She knew what she wanted. It wasn’t knits or tweeds or cottons. No, she needed satin with lycra in it.
She cocked her head to the side when she found the section and squinted at the colors. There, that was raspberry. She fingered the sample and tugged on it with her thumb and forefinger. Yes, perfect. It stretched. Now to find the lace.
There was another book for trims. She flipped through the books until she found the trim. She found a four inch wide lace. She looked up to find the clerk. The clerk was working with some other customer. Wench. Diana coughed. The clerk gave her an absent smile, but continued cutting fabric for someone else.
Diana was there first. Damn it. She frowned deeply. The clerk called for back up. Two more clerks joined her at the cutting table. “Sarah, can you take care of the special order?” the original clerk asked.
“Of course. Hi, I’m Sarah. Did you find what you need?” Sarah offered a genuine smile.
“Yes, I need twelve yards of this raspberry satin with lycra and three yards of the beige lace here.” Diana was just a few days away from actually creating her superhero costume.
Sarah nodded and filled out the forms. “Okay, that’s going to be about two weeks.”
“Two weeks? I need this project started by the weekend.”
“I could call the other shop, but I don’t think we got any of this in at all.”
Diana rubbed at her forehead. Princess Raspberry couldn’t be in satin that wasn’t raspberry. “Okay. Fine. Just go with it. What about the lace?”
“I think we have some of that. I’ll get it.” She went after the lace. “Unfortunately, I only have one yard of it right now.”
“I’ll take the yard. Just get the rest of it as soon as possible.” Diana snatched the papers and headed for the front of the store. “God this is annoying,” she muttered. How was she supposed to be ready for her debut if she couldn’t get some damned fabric.
She twisted the wrist of a shoplifter as she passed by to get to the checkout. Really, what was she going to do without her dress? Maybe the mask would be enough. She paid for the lace. She tripped a purse-snatcher on the way out to her car. God damn it. There was a run in her nylon again.
The carjacker came to the window. “I am not in the mood.” She pressed her gun to his forehead. He wet himself and left her alone. “Damn special order bullshit.”
FIN
BitterSuites 