CHAPTER THREE
THE SPECIAL DRESS
Patricia had watched him go, she had seen
two things at a time. She was confused and almost scared. She wondered how come
the teenage boy she saw earlier turned out to be the Jimi she knows and why was
he staring that way then, why did he move like a ghost and then pretended to
cross the streets like every other normal being. She thought about the eyes she
thought she saw in the mirror, they were blue, blue like the sea, the kind of
blue you could never had missed except if you were blind and now it was
dark-brown when he got closer. “The face too, his face was totally different
and unfamiliar, almost girly, a very handsome boy he would have been if he
wasn’t looking so, so weird” she rejected the original word that came to her
mind in her thoughts. She pushed her thoughts aside and looked at her father
who had been talking to her, she nodded in agreement and finally smiled.
The shopkeeper had noticed the two of them
standing outside the shop for a while and hoped that they might come in to
purchase something for the girl but had been worried when she saw how troubled
the girl was, the way she looked into the mirror forgetting that she could be
seen from within the shop. It looked like the little girl could see something
she couldn’t see in her shop and then the scared look and how she had jumped
into the man who should probably be her father. She reassured herself that there
was nothing scary n her shop when she remembered that no one could see the
inside of the shop from outside. She closed her sales book as soon as they
stepped into her shop and decided not to take off her reading-glasses, she
motioned to the shop attendants that she would attend to the new customers by
herself. She kept her eyes on them and caught the girl looking back at
something she couldn’t guess just before the door closed. The shopkeeper got up
from her seat and headed towards them, she noticed that the girl had lightened
up as soon as she surveyed where she had entered and soon a little smile was
playing on her lips. “Good day, ma’am, I hope I’m in the right place, I want
something special for this young lady here” Mr. Andrews said trying to place his
hands on Patricia’s shoulders but she was already out of his reach. “I want a
lovely long dinner dress” Patricia said more by herself sounded a little bit
excited. The young girl could feel it in her bones that she was at the right
place, she began checking the clothes at her reach. The shopkeeper felt better
when she heard the girl speak up, at least she was now sure she could deal with
them. No salesperson would want to deal with a sad looking kid, you wouldn’t
know what to show them to buy or guess what they would like. Mr. Andrews asked
for a seat and soon got one, he sat down and looked at all the nice dresses
they were surrounded in, he was sure his daughter would fine something
breathtaking. The whole shopping idea was beginning to bore him anyway and he
was beginning to feel hunger coming up. He relaxed and checked his wristwatch,
it was almost four o’clock in the evening. Patricia had found a dress already
and it had taken her an extra five minutes, a royal-blue dress, just the dress
she must had dreamt about because she fell in love with it almost immediately
but she wasn’t so sure about the color anymore. Her father told her to try it
on non the less. The dress, a long flowing gown with a high slit that touched
her knee, the single arm was a mono-strap design with a large concentrated
velvety-blue rose on the neck part. Patricia stepped out of the dressing room
and her father smiled. “Gorgeous” was all he could say at that moment, “How
much?” he added. Patricia looked at herself in the large shop mirror close to
her, the dress was beautiful, it matched her slim tall figure and her chocolate
complexion. She felt like she could go to bed without taking it off but the
color got her uncomfortable, even though it was the perfect color for the
dress, she shook her head and asked again for another color, “Anything but
blue” she said to the shopkeeper who replied that it was the last one
remaining. Her dad loved the dress, his daughter was almost grown and it made
him more aware that she was taking her mother’s looks quickly, he wondered why
she didn’t like the color that soothed her so well. He was a patient man and
wanted his daughter to love whatever he buys, “She could make her choice” he
thought to himself.
Patricia went into the inner part of the
store with the shopkeeper again as her father waited patiently. He heard a
giggle at something he had no idea of and soon was out with another dress, a
white one, a flowing design with specks of shinny stones on it, it was also
silted high up to the left knee with tiny straps for the shoulders. His
daughter stepped out again in another dress, “A special dress” he thought more
to himself, his wife would be proud of both of them if they took it home.
Patricia smiled gleefully when she heard her father ask of the price, she
showed him the wristband that came with the dress and got happier at her choice
even more. “Its not even low cut on the chest” she said more to herself, she
knew her mum would love the dress too.
Both father and daughter left the store
with a dress case and a pair of ladies’ shoes that day, the dress had cost
twenty thousand naira alone and the shoes eight thousand naira, the daughter
knew the remaining dressing would be handled by her mother. They headed to a
cafeteria at the shopping mall they were in and ordered lunch. Patricia
couldn’t stop smiling, “Thank you so much daddy, I love the dress” she says to
her father and hugs the case too. “And the shoe too” she quickly added.
“Anything for you sweety!” her father had told her with a smile. Now she could
barely wait to wear the dress to her dinner party in school, she knew she would
wow everyone, at least everyone in her class for a start and her dress would be
the best, she could imagine all eyes would be on her that day.
Father and daughter both arrived home just
in time to catch the afternoon breaking news, Mrs. Andrews was already seated
paying attention to the news, a family had finally been declared missing after
a week of searching. “A couple with four kids had not been seen to step out of
their home for the past one week. The house had been surveyed by the police and
all seemed normal, no packing or unpacking, clothes were still in their
closets, dirty dishes left in the sink, some electronics plugged,
air-conditioners were left on and running. Notebooks of homework were left on
tables of the kids’ rooms. The family had been known to be the friendly type
and rarely went to bed on time. It was their loud television which was left on
all night that aroused the next-door neighbor to check on them until others
started being curious. There was no clue on what might had happened to them. No
forced entry or any visual injury fluid have been found within and around the
house” the news reporter narrated. Patricia had paid almost no attention, she
was anxious to show her mother her dress and pair of shoes. She decided to head
to her room to take a shower in hopes that she would have her attention by the
time she returned. In the shower she had an uncomfortable bath, she remembered
the blue eyes, the black boy with the sharp blue eyes, the continuous stare and
soon she felt being watched as she took her bath. She was more grateful she
hadn’t bought the blue dress when she placed the white one on a seat in her
room. It sat there looking beautiful, eyeing her and waiting to be worn, she
went to bed thinking about the look on her classmates’ faces on that day. The
blue-eyed boy sat transparently on the seat she had her clothes and watched her
almost through the night. Patricia awoke twice at midnight within the hours of
2am and 3am wondering who else was in her room and checking her table-clock
afterwards. A thought struck her, there was more chill to the room, she used a
fan most nights and her windows were never opened, she wasn’t a fan a air conditioners
and was sure she didn’t put hers on moreover she was too lazy to get up. She
resumed her sleep soon enough.
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