Chapter 20

After Sherry went out of sight, I wandered back inside the mall and contemplated what to do with the rest of my afternoon. It was about 3:00, and the party didn't start until Happy Hour at 6:00. I didn't really want to go back to the room and stare at the TV (or the walls, which were probably more entertaining than daytime TV). I decided to wander around the mall for a while, do some people-watching, and maybe a bit of Christmas shopping.

As I strolled along, dodging people that seemed to be in a hurry and heading nowhere fast, I had a devilish idea. I remembered that I'd left the bag containing Sherry's underwear behind the seat of the truck. I thought that it would be nice to give Sherry a little Christmas present to replace the souvenir I'd kept.

I turned around and walked briskly back to the truck and dug the bag out. I laid out the bra and panties on the seat. They were even more badly worn than my first impression. Sherry's bra was a generic Playtex with thin soft cups, and her panties were plain white nylon Hanes. The elastic on both was tired and the labels nearly illegible from repeated washing. I made note of the sizes and models on a bit of scratch paper and put them back in the bag. Stashing the bag back behind the seat, I locked up, pocketed the keys and shut the door. Next stop, Sears ... which of course was as far from where I was parked as possible.

After a pleasantly aerobic walk to the far end of the mall, I found Sears and followed the signs to the "Intimates" area where I was immediately overwhelmed by the variety of underwear available.

I guess my hapless look attracted a saleslady who took pity on me. From behind me a voice said, "May I help you find something?"

I probably jumped no more than six inches off the floor. Taking a deep breath to try to still my heart, I turned to find an attractive twenty-something young lady trying somewhat unsuccessfully to stifle a laugh.

"Yes, you may- you can give me CPR when I pass out!" I said with a grin.

She smiled broadly. "Well that might not be so bad ... especially the Mouth-to-Mouth part."

"Do you always sneak up behind befuddled middle-aged men in the lingerie aisle ... um Mary?" I said, noting her nametag.

"Only the distinguished-looking ones," she said with a wink.

"Why thank you my dear! Yes you may help me. I'm looking to get some underwear for my girlfriend. These are the sizes and model numbers for the panties and bra that she likes for everyday. She wears this stuff until it's beyond worn out. I sneaked this information and I'm going to replace all this worn out stuff. After that I'll go over to Victoria's Secret and get something a bit more decorative for non-everyday."

"I thought you looked a little overwhelmed" Mary said as she looked over my notes. "My, this is plain stuff- are you sure this is what you want to buy?"

I grimaced a bit. "Yeah I know it's plain, but that's what she likes."

"Well, we have all this here. How many of each one do you want?"

I was perplexed. I hadn't a clue how many to buy. "Hmm- how about 7 pairs of panties and 3 bras?"

Mary laughed. I think she'd seen this many times. "Well, the panties come in packs of three, and they are $10.00 each, and the bras you want are $16.95 each."

I laughed. "Well you can see I'm pretty well out of my depth here. I guess I'll take three of the three-packs and three bras."

"OK, why don't you let me round this up and meet you over by the register?"

"Sounds like a plan to me, Mary. Thank you for rescuing me."

She walked off and began opening drawers and rummaging on shelves. I sidled over to a cash register and leaned on the counter. After a few minutes, Mary came over and put the plunder on the counter. She logged in on the register and rang up my purchases. "Three packs of panties at $10.00 each and 3 bras at $16.95 comes to a total of $85.70 with tax, she said.

"Yow! I had no idea this stuff was that dear! Now I understand why she wears it until it's worn out." I said as I fished out my debit card and handed it to her.

"Yes- it is not something you want to be buying every day, but if you think this is bad, wait until you hit Victoria's Secret!" she said as she swiped my card. "I'll run that through as a credit so you won't get charged a debit card fee." She handed my card back to me as the register spit out a tape, which she tore off and held flat for me to sign.

"Thank you for shopping at Sears today, sir. Please come back anytime." She said with a wink.

Thank you, Mary. If I wasn't old enough to be your father, I might think you were flirting with me." I winked back.

Mary laughed. "I happen to like distinguished-looking men, and you're not all that much older than me."

I smiled ruefully. "Mary I'm almost fifty-one years old, and you're what, about twenty-seven?"

Mary blushed a bit. "Why thank you for the compliment! I'm actually almost thirty-one, and you don't look much over forty or so."

It was my turn to blush. "And thank you most kindly! You've made my day. I hope you have a wonderful day, Mary."

"You have a great day too!" Mary said as she stuffed my purchases into a bag and handed them to me. "Bye!"

"Bye Mary!" I said. I turned and walked off. This day had been full of pleasant surprises.

After leaving Sears, I decided to drop the bag off at the truck, since I still had plenty of time to kill. Once more I started the jaunt to the opposite end of the mall. I wasn't in any hurry, so I just sauntered along, looking into the stores I passed. I ducked into Borders and spent a few minutes browsing the new releases. Nothing struck my fancy, but I noticed that a couple authors I liked had releases scheduled for later in the month.

I resumed my stroll, enjoying the sensation of "No Particular Place to Go". Shoe stores, clothing stores, kiosks selling junk- basically the modern counterpart of the bazaar, all there for my enjoyment.

Nothing much caught my eye, until I was nearly at the exit to the parking building. As I made the turn from the main drag of the mall, I happened to glance into a little gift shop the specialized in Celtic designs. Just inside the door was a small rack holding a variety of Celtic Knot pendants. I'd always been fascinated with the complex knots worked into metal or stone, and I stepped out of the mall and into the shop to take a closer look.

There were probably twenty or thirty different pendants there, varying in size from a bit smaller than a nickel up to nearly two inches. They came in a variety of materials, sterling silver, gold, jade, ebony and something that looked like ivory, but likely wasn't.

Under the rack of pendants was more Celtic jewelry, like Claddagh rings and Celtic cross pins and charms.

As I admired the pendants, the thought crossed my mind that Sherry probably had some Celtic heritage, judging by the red hair. I decided that a small pendant might make a nice Christmas present to supplement the humorous gift of underwear.

I rummaged around and came up with a small sterling knot pendant on a medium weight chain. It was a fairly simple knot, but elegant. I turned the price tag over to find "Celtic Eternity knot- symbolizes destinies intertwined. Sterling silver, $57.75" printed there.

The chain seemed to me to be too heavy for the piece, but I picked it off the rack and walked to the back of the shop, where a lady about my age was waiting behind the counter. The nametag on her long bottle-green dress said (appropriately enough) Meghan. She had a pleasantly odd air about her.

"May I help you with something", she said with a smile.

"Yes, I like this pendant, but the chain is thicker than I want. Do you have a finer one to replace it?"

I opened the clasp, and held the pendant around my neck. The knot was near the top of my breastbone. I didn't think that Sherry would be able to wear something so high, so I said "Also, I think the fob needs to be about two inches lower, so I expect I'd need a chair that's about 4 inches longer."

I handed the pendant to her. She looked at the tag and said "That's a twenty inch chain. I think you'll need a twenty-four inch, and yes, I have a finer one that I can sell you at the same price. Would you like to see it?"

"Thanks, I'd definitely like to see it."

"All right. I'll just pop into the back and get the other chain. Be right back!" she said brightly. She turned and went through a curtained door.

I took the opportunity to glance around the shop. Besides the jewelry, the shop had the usual mish-mash of Celtic stuff and New Age Mystical crap. Crystals, wire pyramids, posters of Stonehenge, meditation CD's, aromatherapy, and ion generators were just a part of the stock. I shook my head, wondering just how many people really put stock in that stuff.

Meghan came back and placed the new chain on the countertop next to the old one. It was a big improvement. The new chain was a very fine braided style, while the original one was a coarser, linked style.