Oct
28
Last weekend I was in Port Angeles, spending time with my mom and aunt and helping them with a clothing sale. They had advertised it locally and for two days people came and went, not a lot, but a steady trickle of women who sifted through lovely barely-worn purses and blouses and shoes and jewelry and enriched their lives a tiny bit while offloading a bit from my mom and aunt.
It was a fairly interesting and rewarding experience, really, seeing things go on to live new lives with new people. Many of the shoppers were chatty and so we would learn one lady was happy to find an elastic waistband because she had a sensitive area on her back from a surgery scar, or another person who needed sturdy shoes and so was delighted by the trove of stylish Easy Spirits and Clarks.
One woman showed up with her boyfriend/husband, who skulked in the driveway and made comment after comment after comment about the female frippery at hand, while ever so slowly the rest of us sort of … separated this lady? Like buffalo forming a protective semi-circle against prey? Pretty soon she tried on a jacket that he began blustering on about, saying it looked ridiculous on her, and we started actively shooing him away and telling her that not only did she look fucking fantastic and fierce in that jacket — which she did! — one of us would be happy to give her a ride home if the Mister was in such an all-fired hurry.
Eventually, she left wearing the jacket, plus a pair of glamorous oversized sunglasses. “We’re going to dinner with friends tonight,” she called as she left. “This will be perfect!” We all waved, benign smiles, a few extra teeth in his direction.
I love this whole thing. At the end I felt the urge to show a few eyeteeth.
The idea of this woman or any person living out their remaining golden years subjected to that douchery makes me so, so weary that it is still so prevalent. It also makes me feel the need to stand on high alert for hints of this in my own relationship.
Goddamn am I grateful to have married a kind man. He can be a hoarder and never met an empty container he didn’t feel the need to hold onto, but I’ll take it.
Oh that just makes my blood boil. Why did he even bother to come along with her? I am very happy that you all gave her some needed pepping up. I hope someone flirted, big time, with her at the dinner.