Part 3 of 4
Byron popped out of the bed and barked at her, the red and black tip of his nose just visible over the dark wood.
“What am I going to do Byron?” she asked him, not expecting a reply but knowing she couldn’t do this alone. Somehow, her closet had gone from best friend to worst enemy. The sexy underware she’d bought on a retail therapy excursion with her best friend Michelle after things had ended with Jake six months ago looked amazing. She couldn’t believe she’d only let it leave the bag this morning. She’d been wearing Jakes favourite pieces up until now. Jake had liked that blue sundress too. Alice had never been fond of blue.
Byron barked at her again, placing his front paws up on the footboard and cocking his head to the side.
“What Byron?”
His ears perked and his tail wagged as he yapped again.
“What?” Alice asked, coming back over to the bed to scratch his ears. He was such a suck for attention. As Alice plunked herself down on the bed, her blackberry chimed at her again. She reached across thinking she must have hit snooze by mistake. It was a text from Will. ‘Looking forward to seeing you today.’
Alice smiled to herself, typing back, ‘Me too. See you at 12.’
Dropping her blackberry back on the bed, Alice glanced across at her closet, her eyes focusing again and again on things she no longer wore, and would never wear again. She picked out the pleated skirt she wore in grade nine that would never make it up over her hips, let alone cover her backside. Her eyes then strayed to the clump of clothes her aunt had passed on to her that, while she would never wear any of it, somehow she’d never had the heart to give away either. She saw t-shirts that probably wouldn’t cover her stomach anymore the way she wore her jeans these days and a pair of jeans with so many rips in awkward places that it would be indecent to leave the house in them. Finally, she looked to the blue dress that had been Jake’s favourite. Blue had never been her colour but he’d always loved it on her and she’d always loved the smile that played across his face when he saw her in it.
Byron’s whine and cold damp nose squirming in under her elbow brought her back to the here and now. Picking him up under one arm Alice walked into the kitchen. Setting Byron down, she pulled his food out from under the sink and dropped a scoop of it into his dish. She refilled his water dish as he crunched happily around her ankles. As Alice returned Byron’s food container to its home under the sink, she noticed a clear garbage bag that was tied up out of the way around one of the black pipes. Tugging it out, she walked back into her room with Byron at her heals.
The closet door stood open, the offending clothes lining the racks like a criminal line up. Each one seemed to shout its guilty plea at her in colourful languages. Squaring her shoulders, she opened the mouth of the bag wide and began ripping things off hangers. Silks, rayons, satins, cottons, wools, and linens all marched into the bag. Most of it she didn’t even bother to fold.
© Jessica Becking 2010
