Trying It On...

She wasn't sure what type of person could wear a coat like this.

Okay, that wasn't right. 

Anyone could wear a coat like this. She was trying it on right now. But who could really wear a coat like this? Not just put it on, but have it fit. You know? Those were different things. 

She pet the collar. It was fur she thought. If not real fur then a very good fake. Which was probably what it was. Nobody wore real fur anymore unless it was an antique coat. Something that had been in your family for generations. But this wasn't that. So it was probably just a very expensive fake fur collar. She imagined someone slipping this coat on and then doing that move with their hair that women with really long hair do. Where you pull your hair out of the collar and let it fall, no not fall, cascade, let it cascade back down your back. She imagined a woman with long thick hair, maybe a soft natural wave, slipping on this coat and then letting her hair cascade over her shoulders and down her back. 

Or maybe, someone with one of those really chic super short styles. She thought maybe they were called pixies? Not that the women were pixies, the hair cut was a pixie. Mia Farrow had one back in the day. Actresses would still sport them. Showing up on a red carpet one week with hair cut almost to the their scalp and the next week with long sheets of impossibly thick hair. The wigs were so amazing she was never sure if they ever showed their real hair. 

But the thick fluffy collar would be a really nice thing to have if your hair was that short. It would keep your neck nice and warm. You could even sort of scrunch up into the coat and keep your ears comfortable too. Though she imagined any woman who fit this coat wasn't much of a scruncher. 

Her very practical chin length bob didn't really work. It wasn't short enough to miss the collar and it wasn't long enough to go over it so it kept sort of getting stuck on top of it. Maybe she could cut her hair, or curl it a bit and then it would work. 

She ran her hands down the sides of the coat. It was so soft. Cashmere. She didn't know what cashmere felt like, but this seemed like it could be that. Cashmere was always described as soft, and this was very soft. Not at all like her normal parka. She had owned her puffy coat for years. It was warm, it had great pockets, it was easy to clean when the kids, or let's be really honest, she spilled something on it. But it wasn't soft so much as it was slick. 

But this coat? So soft. The pockets were almost invisible. Slits tailored into the coat so as not to ruin the lines. She imagined a pair of kid gloves to match. Or maybe contrast. Red gloves to go with the black coat? No, probably black. Nothing too garish. Very classy. Soft delicate gloves. 

Her Aunt Delores had a pair of kid gloves. She remembered being shocked when Aunt Delores talked about them. Not just because she was so proud but because nobody else seemed bothered. Her Uncle Abner had said, "They are really too delicate and impractical but whatever my DoDo wants, my DoDo gets." 

She had made sure to never be alone in a room with her Aunt Delores after that. Or her Uncle Abner either. What if her gloves got ruined and she needed another pair? What if she was the only kid around to make them from?

It was embarrassing how long she thought that kid gloves were made from children. 

But she imagined now that this coat would go with a pair of the softest gloves. The kind that fit the wearer like a second skin. Perfection.

She imagined the clothes you would need to wear with a coat like this. Maybe some tight jeans with knee high boots. Or maybe a cocktail dress with just enough sparkle to stand out but not so much as to look like a disco ball. Or if you could wear a coat like this would you be cool enough not to care about what you were wearing? Would you be one of those people her mother used to say had "effortless style." He father would follow that up with "Effortless style always seems to need an endless bank account."

Her mother would roll her eyes and wave him off. 

She tried to stand further back from the mirror to see the full length of the coat, but it wasn't a big enough mirror to capture everything. She did that hold your phone over your head move to try and capture it with the camera. Which just made her look like a child trying to wear grown up clothes.

She was not the sort of person who could wear a coat like this. She knew from the moment she slipped it on. 

She took it off and laid it back over the chair where she had found it. 

Then she took a deep breath and headed upstairs to see the type of woman who could wear a coat like this.

 And take it off to sleep with another woman's husband.