I wasn’t quite finished with the story I was telling by the time 2025 ended and so decided to continue it until it reached an ending point. I believe I have reached an ending point with this section. It is a messy end but it is an end. Another post will be up shortly discussing this particular fifteen minute adventure but for now, we wrap up with…
Day 236: Penelope gripped her purse strap and followed.
Penelope gripped her purse strap and followed. Her footsteps echoed on the hard marble of the entry way but soon they moved to an area where wooden floorboards were overlaid with carpets. Lenore was waiting a tea tray being rolled in as Penelope arrived. To Penelope’s surprise, Lenore was not alone.
A petite brunet woman wearing large glasses sat in one of the chairs across from Lenore. Standing behind her was a younger woman only a few years older than Penelope. She almost seemed to vibrate with anticipation as though she was a wind up toy that was already wound but had yet to be let go to race across the room.
As she entered, Lenore and the other woman stood. Lenore beamed at her. “Wanda, this is my niece Penelope,” Lenore said. She turned to Penelope. “Wanda is the best dress maker in the city,” she told Penelope.
Wanda smiled, accepting the complement. “It is lovely to meet you,” she said. “This is your first ball?”
“It is,” Penelope said.
“Excellent,” Wanda said. “This will be such fun.” Wanda gestured to the younger woman. Gertrude here will take you off to one of the rooms for measurements and then we will discuss cut and color.”
“If you will follow me,” Gertrude said. She was already walking towards the stairs. Her energy now released into motion.
“Okay,” Penelope said. She followed Gertrude to the stairs and they climbed to the second floor. Soon enough they were in a small guest bedroom. Penelope was instructed to disrobe and Gertrude took out a measuring tape and notebook.
The items appeared from no where, popping up in an instant. ‘Magic,’ Penelope thought.
The tape measure was soon set to work and all of Penelope’s measurements were taken down in the book. “We will keep them on file for future events so we won’t need to be as thorough each time,” Gertrude told her.
“I see,” Penelope replied. She wondered what future events she would have planned. Gertrude smiled.
“There will be a surprising number of them once you are launched into society,” Gertrude said as she wrote down the last of the numbers. She indicated Penelope was to get dressed. Penelope nodded and pulled her clothes back on. As she did, her cell phone rang from the depths of her bag.
“I’ll just leave you to get that and I’ll meet you downstairs,” Gerturde said. She took the measurements back down stairs as Penelope pulled her cell phone from her purse. She answered the call and found herself talking with her former friend.
“I heard you got an invitation to the ball being held at the Merriweather estate,” she gushed. Penelope rolled her eyes and wondered how she ended up0 being someone others gossiped about.
“We have to go shopping so you have the right things to wear.”
“Its already being taken care of,” Penelope said.
“But you have to take me with you,” she said. “I can be your plus one. You need to tell me where you got your dress so we can coordinate.”
Penelope shook her head and realized she was done with it all. She was being fitted for a dress to wear to a ball. She had a tracking device stashed in her purse and magic to learn while pretending to still be injured. Trinity, jeanette and her false friend didn’t not fit anywhere into that world. Penelope hung up, blocked her number, and then for good measure blocked Trinity and Jeanette as well. She slipped the phone back into her bag and went back downstairs to discuss cut and color of her gown. She was entering a whole new word and while she would keep her friends, it was time to leave something behind.
Ten til Midnight 