When Love Finds a Home (15 page)

When Tammy arrived, she was
carrying the scissors and a straight-back chair. She placed the chair by the
bathroom window and raised the shade.

"Stop looking so
scared," she scolded as she motioned for Rona to sit down.

"Are you sure you know
what you're doing?"

"Trust me."

"I hate it when people
say that," Rona groused as she sat down. She told herself to relax as
Tammy began to comb her hair. She couldn't see into either of the mirrors from
where she sat. Tammy combed part of her hair down over her face.

"Relax," Tammy told
her. "If you don't like it, you won't have to leave a tip."

Rona chuckled and closed her
eyes. As Tammy began to work, she could feel long tendrils of hair hit her arm
before slipping to the floor.

"Your hair is so thick.
I'll try to thin it some."

"Just don't leave big
bald spots all over my head."

"Oh, ye of little
faith."

The steady clipping of the
scissors along with the comb running gently through her hair soon lulled her
into a comfortable trance.

"Okay, I'm
finished."

Rona opened her eyes.
"You've already finished?"

"What do you mean
already?
It took me nearly thirty minutes. Look at that mess on the floor."

Rona looked at the floor
around her. Hair was everywhere. Her hand flew to her head and after being
reassured that plenty still remained there she relaxed. "Wow. That's a lot
of hair."

"I'll say. I had an
English setter that had less hair than that," Tammy said. "Well, get
up and look at yourself. Tell me what you think."

Rona walked to the mirror and
did a double take. She looked like a different person. She ran a hand through
her hair and liked the way it sprang back into place. "I like it,"
she admitted. "You did a great job. Thank you."

Tammy reached over and
rearranged the back of Rona's hair. "You look a lot different. Do you have
any money?"

Rona nodded. Tammy's
occasional bluntness no longer bothered her. "She paid me for working
yesterday."

"Good. While we're out
shopping today, we need to find you some decent clothes."

Rona glanced at herself in the
mirror. "What's wrong with these?"

"Nothing if you were
fifteen pounds heavier and four inches shorter."

Rona hitched up her pants and
stared at her bare ankles. "They're perfect for walking in the snow.
Besides, I don't want to spend all my money on clothes."

"That's fine, but if
you're going to look for work you need at least two nice outfits. Think of it
as an investment in your future."

Rona nodded. "I guess
you're right."

"Of course I am. Now help
me clean up this mess."

After sweeping the hair up off
the bathroom floor, Tammy went to get die girls while Rona went to her room to
get her jacket. Alone, she looked at herself in the mirror, amazed at the difference
a simple haircut could make. She turned to leave and at the last moment, she
removed the money from the envelope. Tammy was right. If she intended to start
hunting for a job, she would need something to wear. She stuffed it in her
pocket and pulled on the jacket.

It wasn't until they were
leaving that she noticed Tammy had a key. "You found a key to the
house?" she asked.

"No. Anna gave it to me
in case the girls and I wanted to go out during the day."

Rona couldn't help but wonder
why Anna hadn't given her a key. She tried telling herself that it was because
they rode to work together or maybe Anna assumed she would borrow Tammy's if
she needed one any other time.

"Don't ever try to make a
living playing poker," Tammy said as they walked down the sidewalk with
the girls racing a few steps ahead.

"What do you mean?"

"Your face always gives
you away. Every emotion you're feeling is right there."

"You're so full of. . .
stuffing," she replied, remembering to clean up her language.

"No, I'm not. When I told
you Anna gave me a key, you were jealous that I had one and you didn't. When I
came in from the park"—she lowered her voice—"you were up to no good.
Rona, you promised me you wouldn't steal from Anna."

"I've not stolen
anything," Rona snapped.

Tammy was watching her.
"Maybe not yet, but I know you're planning something."

"There's a sign for a bus
stop up ahead," Rona said, changing the subject. "We need to remember
it in case we want to take the bus back."

Tammy didn't pursue the
argument, but Rona was beginning to think that when it was time to leave she
couldn't tell Tammy. She would have to leave her behind. As they continued to
walk, a sense of loneliness settled over her.

The walk to the thrift store
took them almost an hour. The girls got so excited about buying clothes, Karla
temporarily forgot about building a snowman.

Rona left them digging through
a bin of kid's shoes and went to see if she could find something nice to wear.
She hated shopping for clothes. It was such a pain in the butt trying to match
everything, and her mother always used to make her try everything on. She
skipped the dressing room by simply holding the clothes up to her. With that
method, she finally settled on a pair of brown slacks with an elastic waist and
a white short-sleeved blouse. Both items were marked a dollar each. She found a
tan shirt for fifty cents and added it to her pile. Satisfied with her
selections she went to find Tammy and the girls. She finally located them in
the back, looking at children's books.

Tammy looked up as Rona joined
them. "I promised them each a book if they wouldn't wander off while we
were shopping," she said and winked. Both girls were sitting on the floor
surrounded by a dozen or more books. "They can't make up their minds which
ones they want."

Rona glanced at the sign
announcing the books were ten cents each. She watched as the girls pulled a
stack of books from the shelves and went through them, before returning those
to the shelf and pulling out another handful to go through. At this rate, she
thought, they might be in school before they decided on a single book.

Tammy began to show her the
numerous items of clothing she had chosen for the girls. "Let me see what
you've picked out," Tammy said as she reached for Rona's things.
"Good Lord, Rona," she scolded.

"What?"

"These look like they
belong to someone's grandmother." She giggled. "Heck, they probably
did." She draped the clothes over the cart. "Girls, hurry up. We need
to help Rona find some clothes."

That's all it took for them to
make a decision. Katie chose a book about a kitten and Karla found one with
something that looked like a dancing mushroom on the cover.

"There's nothing wrong
with these clothes," Rona grumbled.

"Did you even try them
on?"

"No, but I held them up
to me and they looked fine."

"Rona, when are you going
to learn that there's fine and then there's
fine?"

"I'm only wearing them to
look for a job. They don't have to be
fine."
She mimicked Tammy's
long drawn-out enunciation.

Without waiting to see if she
intended to follow, Tammy and the girls took off toward the women's clothing.

Rona picked up the books the
twins had left and waited in stubborn defiance. Finally, she slapped her leg in
frustration. "There's nothing wrong with those clothes," she grumbled
as she went after Tammy. By the time she caught up with them, the clothes she
had picked out were no longer in sight. In their place was a growing pile.
"I can't afford all those clothes," she hissed.

"You're not going to buy
all these clothes," Tammy hissed back. "These are the ones you're
going to try on."

"No." She groaned.
"I don't want to try them on."

Tammy stared at her. "I
swear you're worse than a kid. How do you expect to get clothes that look
decent on you if you don't try them on?"

Rona grabbed a blouse from the
rack and pointed to the tag. "I expect to read this and buy a size
fourteen."

"Fourteen!"

Rona cringed as three older
women turned to stare at them. "Yes," she replied in a lower tone.

"I don't know when you
last wore a size fourteen, but take my word for it, that's no longer the
case." Tammy grabbed her arm. "Come on. Try these on."

Rona allowed herself to be
dragged across the store like a child. Sometimes it was just easier to keep
quiet and show them. When her butt didn't fit into those tiny little pants
Tammy had picked out then she could go back and find the clothes she had wanted
originally.

They found an empty dressing
room. Tammy handed her a shirt and a pair of pants. "Try these on."

Rona snapped her heels
together and saluted, which caused the twins to start laughing. As she stripped
her clothes off in the dressing room she became a little self-conscious that
she wasn't wearing any underwear. As she quickly pulled on the clothes, she
glanced nervously at the mirror across the back of the dressing room and hoped
it wasn't a two-way mirror with a security person behind it. She had heard that
some stores used them in an attempt to curtail shoplifting. Once she had the
clothes on, she checked herself in the mirror. They didn't look so bad.

"Are you dressed
yet?" Tammy asked.

"Yeah, these are
fine."

"Let me see."

The curtain flew open before
she could protest. From the look of exasperation on Tammy's face, Rona assumed
they weren't fine.

"The pants are too big
and that blouse looks horrible," Tammy insisted as she handed Rona more
clothes. "Take those off and try these."

So began a vicious circle that
continued until Rona was on the verge of collapsing. She no longer bothered
even to look in the mirror. She simply put the clothes on and opened the
curtain time after time, until finally Tammy spoke the golden words.

"I think you have
enough."

Out of what felt like dozens
of outfits she'd tried on, the final selections were narrowed down to a pair of
black tapered slacks and a pair of forest green belted slacks. The tops
included a long-sleeved white blouse with black piping along either side of the
buttonholes, a short-sleeved cotton blouse with a subdued pattern of pale green
banana leaves, a white turtleneck short-sleeved pullover, the same turtleneck
in green, plus a black blazer. Tammy had also chosen two nice pullover sweaters
and a pair of black denim jeans.

When Rona stumbled out of the
dressing room, she stared at the mound of clothing. "I can't afford all
those clothes."

"So far your total is
sixteen dollars plus tax. I've been keeping a tally for you. Everything except
the long-sleeved blouse has a green tag. That means they're thirty percent
off."

Rona nodded. "Okay. I can
handle that. She paid me thirty-three dollars."

Tammy looked at her and
smiled. "Good, because you still need to buy shoes."

Rona draped herself over the
cart. "No," she whimpered. "I can't take any more."

"You can't wear tennis
shoes to a job interview." She pushed Rona off the shopping cart.
"Stop whining, shoes are easy," Tammy assured her. "Let's
go."

Too tired to argue, Rona
trailed behind her.

True to her word, selecting
shoes was much easier. Rona simply sat on the short stool and put on the shoes
handed to her. Tammy finally settled on a pair of black loafers that looked
brand new and a pair of low-cut boots.

"These boots look
horrible," Rona protested.

"They just need to be
polished," Tammy replied as she put them in the cart.

"How much are they?"

Tammy looked at the tags.
"The loafers are five dollars but they're good shoes. The boots are only
three dollars. They aren't as good quality, but they still have a lot of wear
left in them."

Twenty-four dollars was more
than Rona had intended to spend.

"An investment,"
Tammy reminded her as if she were reading her thoughts.

Rona nodded. "Can I quit
now?" she implored.

Tammy ruffled her hair as she
would the kids. "Yes, you can quit now."

As they walked toward the
counter, Rona suddenly reached out, grabbed the shopping cart and brought it to
a stop.

"What's wrong?"
Tammy asked as Rona pawed through the contents.

"There's nothing in here
for you," Rona said as she turned to stare at Tammy.

"I don't need
anything," Tammy replied. "I can make do with the things I
have."

"I thought you were going
to start looking for a job."

"I am. I can add little
things to make do with what I have."

"I don't think so. Girls,
let's go help your mom find some pretty clothes."