kept his word.
When she opened her eyes the next morning, the first thing that Mary noticed was a large box, wrapped beautifully in blue shiny paper, on the table beside the bed.
Just clicked my fingers! Mary remembered the line from the first date with Robert.
She yawned, stretched, and in an effort to prolong the pleasant feelings of surprise just a little longer, she wandered into the bathroom in readiness for a shower.
In quiet excitement, since it was her birthday, she sat in front of her mirror, and opened the box. A greeting card was on top, the invitation and the voucher for the jewelry shop – next to it. First she took the card.
The birthday card displayed a hand-drawn picture. Flying above the flame-like red digits ‘twenty-one’, a white dove held a banner with her name. Mary smiled, and looked inside. She read: “Dear Mary, you are a big girl now. Hugs, best wishes, Robert N.”
She adored his handwriting – so clear, legible and definitely recognizable, showing his ability and self-confidence. She kissed the birthday card, and hid it in her jewelry box.
Afterward, Mary took the invitation, looking for the date of the event.
“So I have three days to get ready,” the girl mumbled to herself.
She put the invitation into a drawer, the coupon – into her wallet, and carefully took the garment out the box. It appeared to be a light brown dress.
She had never seen a designer dress up close before. The brand name meant nothing to her, and the girl still wouldn’t have liked the color. Beige? Yuk!
Naively, she tried to find labels with the size and type of fabric, but in vain.
She shrugged her shoulders and tried to put the dress on. The design seemed very simple, and she had no problem putting it on. Mary stood up straight, tried to straighten her hair out as best she could, posing elegantly. She looked intensely at herself in the mirror.
The sight before her eyes affected her deeply. For one, she could not recognize herself, because, for two, she was admiring a princess, a fairy, a goddess! For a long time, she was only able to gaze at her reflection, feasting her eyes on this miracle.
Gradually, though, her excitement subsided.
“Not bad,” she murmured, turning around to study herself from all angles. It hugged her shapely breasts and tight tummy, and she loved the way her hips and buttocks appeared. “Fabulous! But coffee-and-cream… Hmmm.”
It makes my skin look kind of dull, she thought. Better if it were green.
She had some free time to spare, so she carefully folded the dress up, and left the campus.
From her schoolmates she had learned of an actual good dry-cleaner. Very expensive, Jewish or Italian, Mary did not remember which, for sure, but she had heard they provided an excellent service.
She found the store, a simple building with a basic all-glass facade completely out of tune with the rest of the neighborhood, and laid the dress carefully on the counter.
The venerable cleaner perched a pair of horn-rimmed glasses on the end of his long hooked nose. His eyes bored into the gown, searching, assessing.
His hands were trembling when he lifted the dress, treating it as if it were an ancient fragile vase. Mary watched with amazement how delicately he held the fabric and how hard he studied it, inch by inch. He even took out a magnifying glass, and checked the stitches.
“Wow,” he said finally. “What seems to be the problem, miss?”
“I would like to dye this dress a different color,” Mary said uncertainly.
“What?” His mad howl startled the girl.
“I… I…” Mary stuttered, carefully taking the dress and walking back towards the exit.
“Get out, you blasphemous monster!” the wild-eyed man screamed at her. “Don’t ever, EVER come here again!”
Scared to death, Mary shot outside and ran down a few blocks before she regained her senses. She looked at the gown in amazement.
What’s the big deal? she wondered. She looked around. Well, it’s not the only cleaning service in town.
Not fifty yards from where she had been somewhat brusquely evicted, she saw another cleaner, and went in.
The clerk, obviously of Chinese origin, took the dress from her, and checked it out.
“What you would like to do with it, Miss?” he asked politely.
Mary sighed with relief. A friendly face.
“I’d like to dye it bright green. Emerald-green to be precise.”
The clerk nodded. “Tomorrow after 10,” he said.
A worrying pang squeezed Mary’s heart. “Are you sure you won’t ruin it?”
The clerk nodded again. “You’ll pay nothing unless you are completely satisfied with the results.”
That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear, she thought, hesitant.
***
She was on her way back to campus, when her cell-phone rang.
She answered, and smiled on hearing Robert’s voice.
“Happy birthday honey!” he said. “Have you received the dress?”
“Oh!” Mary’s cheeks blushed in embarrassment. “Yes. Sorry, I didn’t call!”
“How do you like it?”
“It’s magnificent!” Mary admitted. “How did you deliver it? ‘Click of the fingers’?”
“Exactly, sweetheart! I did not want anyone disturbing your beauty sleep.”
“Agh, you are considerate. What time will I see you?”
There was a pause.
“Hi Robert? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m still here. Look, this is why I called you, my little lamb. I have a lot of things to finish. I’m afraid until the party, I won’t be able to get any time off to see you.”
“Oh,” Mary mumbled, feeling a bitter taste into her mouth.
“But I’ll keep in touch with you, my heart.”
“Okay,” she smiled, thinking; Maybe it’s for the best. What would have I done if he had asked me to show him the dress?
***
…Mary went to the dry-cleaning store, and handed over the receipt.
The clerk with an expression of indifference took out something green, and put it on the counter.
Mary looked down and froze with shock; it was a ghastly verdant rag, which didn’t even appear as a dress.
“You can have your money back,” the worker said calmly.
Choking, like a fish without water, Mary tried to inhale in vain; her legs went weak.
“I said, get out, you blasphemous monster!” The mighty voice thundered.
She looked at the clerk again, but to her horror, it was Robert.
He stared at her as he had before, a few times. This gaze always made her blood curdle, as if she faced a tiger, preparing to make his mortal attack.
“Thanks for ruining my gift,” he uttered with such menace that Mary fell to the floor as if she had roped down dead.
***
…Covered from head to toe in a cold sweat, she sat up in bed, startled, and pressed her hand to her chest, trying to get her palpitations under control.
“My