Notes by Alison Pickles.
I was curled up on the winged sofa reading ‘Sense and Sensibility’ – wishing I was alone on a little boat. Auntie was belting out, ‘What’s New Pussycat?’
Suddenly she broke off her boisterous rendition.
‘Have you got any bright pink cotton Alison? I can’t finish the hem on this skirt.’
She held up a scrap of material stitched into the depth of a cummerbund.
‘What about going to Needlecraft?’
‘They close at five thirty.’
‘Precisely!’ Abandoning Jane Austen, I opened up my laptop and patted the cushion next to me. Perhaps now was the perfect time to persuade auntie to embrace online shopping.
‘You’re not going to start all that again, Alison. Great balls of fire!’
‘Sit!’ Dottie crashed down next to me, her palms drumming stockinged knee caps. ‘Sewing. Cotton. Thread,’ I said, googling it.
‘Still won’t get my cotton tonight.’
‘You’ll get it tomorrow morning.’
‘I can go to Needlecraft in the morning.’
I typed ‘miniskirts for sale’. ‘A rose floral jacquard mini skirt,’ I read out.
Auntie leaned over. ‘I could run that up in an hour.’
I typed ‘mini dresses for sale.’ ‘Look, a Bardot mini dress.’
‘Ooh, that’s pretty! What’s the material?’
‘Polyester and metallic fibre.’
‘What are the sizes?’
‘They’ve got medium and large – sold out of XS and S.’
‘What size is medium?’
I click on Size Guide and scroll down. ‘Size 12.’
‘If it’s a large 12, it will be too big.’
‘You can try it and always return it if the size is wrong. The cost is £40 is that okay?’ Aunt Dottie agrees. ‘See! I told you people like online shopping. You should so sell your stock online.’
‘What’s the postage?’
‘You can order it and collect it from Topshop.’
Auntie stared at me. After a beat, she said, ‘So why not go to the shop in the first place?’
Story and fictional characters © Charlie Clarke 2021 (Brief author note: a fuller version of this story appears in my book, In a Pickle at Christmas.)
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