The officer finally went on his way, leaving us to go into shops by ourselves. It was a relief not to feel his eyes watching me as if he thought I’d suddenly turn into a bad person who made scenes in the street and cursed like a drunkard. Or something worse, although I really couldn’t figure out what he thought I might do.
Mrs. Penn picked out a week’s worth of clothing for the boys, including socks and the under clothes, even jackets and sweaters. No secondhand stuff, either. The boys were in high plateaus with all their new clothes. They each got two pairs of shoes, in addition. One pair was for dress up, as Mrs. Penn called it, and the other pair was for playing in. After they were suitably attired in a new outfit, we dropped them off at the police station for Officer Krugle to watch, and I got to go shopping with Mrs. Penn for me.
I had to try on a lot of dresses. That wasn’t the bad part. It was kind of fun, in fact, but then she chose, with my approval, five stylish and new dresses! I was thrilled, of course, and yet I didn’t like feeling beholden again. I really, really wanted to earn some money, despite what Mrs. Penn had said before. I’d spent my whole life being a beggar, and I didn’t want to do it again. But she accepted no pleas about spending too much on my clothing.
She bought me undergarments, too. I’d planned just to wear the contents of my bedroom drawer, but Mrs. Penn said those had belonged to the old lady, Mrs. Smith, and she wanted me to have pretty things that matched my age. Wow. It felt like Mrs. Penn was adopting me. (I wish.)
I also got a jacket and a sweater for when the air cooled, as Mrs. Penn put it.
We left the lady’s wear shop and went to another store where they had heavy pants and shirts that I could ride in. There, I got a second jacket for riding Fray in. And also, there were shoes and boots to pick out. Another pile of cash got laid down for me there. It would take me the rest of my life to pay off all the stuff that Mrs. Penn said I needed.
Everywhere, the clerks were super nice to me, treating me as if I were an honored customer. I knew that was actually more for Mrs. Penn, who was obviously well liked by everyone, but it was still a treat not being treated like the village trash.
We even stopped later at the feed shop where Fray’s hay had come from. Once the owner saw me, I was handed a package with a curry comb, a brush, and some fly spray. He told us that the other things: the tub, grain and carrots would be delivered later that day.
It was like I’d wished on a rainbow and gotten a whole pot of wants.