Story #32

Dear Readers,

Here is weekly story number thirty-two. Thank you for reading and a Merry Christmas from all of us at Very short stories r us.

Yours,

Matthew Sharpe

Story #32

Kirk and his girlfriend, Claudette, were going on a ski weekend with another couple, and had agreed to meet them in a clothing store. But it didn’t really seem like a clothing store. Oh, it had clothes all right, and they were nice clothes—soft to the touch, pretty patterns, gentle colors—but there weren’t that many of them, considering Christmas was almost here. Their friends had not arrived and he didn’t know where Claudette was. A salesman wandered by and Kirk just had to ask the guy, “Is this a clothing store?” “Sure!” the man said. “I mean but is it only a clothing store or is there something else going on here?” “What else do you think is going on?” The guy was smiling now, as if Kirk had told him he’d just won ten million dollars in the lottery. It was all too much. Where was Claudette? He went in search of her and found a soft chair near the dressing rooms. He sat in it but things didn’t go well from there. He moved from the chair to the floor. He lay on his side and saw several women’s stockinged calves and feet in the eight-inch gap between the floor and the dressing room doors. “I could’ve ended up with any one of these women instead of Claudette and I would never have known the difference.” He rolled onto his back and stared up at the shirts and pants and beyond them, the brilliant track lighting. He was taken by the hand and pulled to his feet by the salesman. “You all right?” “No, I’m not all right. Stop smiling at me.” “I’m not smiling, my face is just frozen like this from years in sales. You’re not the only one with troubles.” “Sorry, man, I just don’t know what the hell’s going on. This has never happened to me before. I can’t find my girlfriend, Claudette. I can’t even really see anything anymore.” Claudette tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m right here, baby.” This woman might not even have been Claudette. Their friends Jack and Sondra arrived. “Ready to go, Kirk?” they said. They had their ski hats on with the goggles perched on their foreheads, like a ski advertisement. Kirk just stood there looking at them. Claudette said, “Baby, I see what’s happening. It’s okay, just come skiing with us.” They left the store. Night had fallen and the air was icy. Snow was coming down fast and hard. Kirk just had a thin pair of sneakers and a light raincoat. They arrived at the top of the mountain and the other three disappeared down the slope. Kirk didn’t have skis, but off he went.