Good. I know you will. Go on then.
The girl walked down the steps and out to the car, not in a hurry but steadily, and got into the backseat behind Willa. Alene was driving.
Hello, dear, Willa said.
Hello, she said.
Alene turned and smiled at her and she smiled back. They drove over to Main Street and parked in front of Schulte’s Department Store at the intersection of Main and Second. Inside the store it was warm and not very brightly lighted. The big ceiling fans were spinning, making a clicking noise. They went back toward the rear of the old store with its narrow creaking wood floors to the girls’ section and Alene and Willa began to consider the selection of shorts and T-shirts. Alice hung back and then the clerk came, a high school girl working in the summer, and the Johnson women explained to her what they had in mind and she began to show Alice different outfits and combinations and to hold them up against the girl’s thin bony chest to size them. Alice watched the two women, to see what their reaction might be, and then she went alone into the small boxy dressing room against the wall where there was a full-length mirror and locked the door and took off her clothes and set them carefully on the bench and put on the new clothes, looking at herself in the long mirror, turning to view herself sideways, and unlocked the door and came back outside to the aisle where the women and the high school girl were waiting.
Well yes, Willa said, you look very nice.
Alene came forward and adjusted the shirt a little. What do you think, honey?
I like them all right.
Just all right?
They’re okay. They’re nice.
But you don’t really like them.
She shrugged.
What do you like better?
I don’t know.
Would you want to look at these over here? the high school girl said.
Alice went back to the dressing room and took the new clothes off and came out again in her own clothes and then they went to another section even farther back in the store and Alice stopped to look at some black shorts and black tops with long red sleeves.
Aren’t they too hot for summer? Willa said.
If it’s what she likes, Alene said, that’s what matters. Do you like these, honey?
If you don’t care.
No. Now it’s not if we care or don’t care. It’s what you want. You have to say.
I like them, Alice said.
That’s better. Let’s have a look.
They took the shorts and shirt and another set of the same style, together with matching socks, and she tried them on in the back dressing room and came out carrying them to the register and the high school girl folded them neatly on the counter and put them in a store bag and rang them up. Alene paid for them while Alice watched and didn’t say anything or even smile and then the high school girl handed the bag to Alice and they went out into the sun on Main Street. The light glinted sharply off all the windshields of the cars parked along in front of the stores.
Thank you, Alice said. Thank you for these clothes.
You’re very welcome, Willa said.
A few cars were moving along in the afternoon, a few people walking in the crosswalk and on the wide sidewalks before the stores.
Well, Willa said. What shall we do now?
Let’s go across the street, Alene said.
What’s over there?
I’ll show you. Alice, would you care to go to the hardware store with us?
If you want to.
Do you want to put your things in the car first?
She set the bag in the backseat of the car and then together they crossed the street at midblock and entered the hardware store through the big open doors.
What are we doing? Willa said.