Juliet’s shopping excursion started at a strip of boutiques on Whyte Avenue. They looked so cute from the bus window, but after popping into a few of them, she realized that she was going to go bankrupt if she tried to fill her entire wardrobe there. But she kept on walking and looking at price tags until she found herself at a second-hand clothing store. Because of her feelings about used clothing, she had never spent much time pawing through a thrift store. But now, she felt like her squeamishness was childish. Maybe something with a little history was just what she needed.

After sorting through a few racks, she found a few skirts and sweaters she didn’t think were that bad. This particular thrift store had an abundance of evening gowns and so Juliet took a quick look through them. Surprisingly, she spotted three dresses that were all worth trying on. Two of them were black and the last one was burgundy with deeply colored raspberries embroidered across the hem and neckline.   

She didn’t even have to look in the mirror when she tried the first black dress. It was obviously a no-go. The next black one turned out to be a shirt/skirt combination and not a dress at all. It was more expensive than the other two put together. It was floor-length and the top was like a corset with capped sleeves attached to it.  

Juliet groaned. She clearly had to buy it once she saw herself in the full-body mirror on the back of the dressing room door.

“I was going to buy that,” one of the sales girls told her, “but it didn’t fit.”

“The skirt is dragging on the floor,” Juliet pointed out.

“No problem,” the girl continued. “Wear a pair of heels and you’re golden. You won’t even have to hem it. It’s an amazing find. Next week, everyone will be looking for Halloween costumes.”  

“I’ll buy it,” Juliet blurted.

“Of course you will,” the girl replied, tossing a pointed witch hat on Juliet’s head, before strolling back toward the sales counter.

Juliet tried on the rest of her cart and sorted through the items she wanted. She hadn’t been impressed with the tops she’s seen, so she thought she would take the bus to the mall after she finished. Plus, she wanted new accessories, shoes, and perfume.

When she was at the counter, the salesgirl ran the witch’s hat through with her other purchases. Juliet hadn’t planned to buy it, but she probably needed a Halloween costume.

By the time she left the thrift store, she was happy because nothing suited her purposes as much as the dress she’d bought.

Juliet caught the bus and went to the closest mall to campus. She had been there the week she had moved into the dorms. It was part of the ‘sight-seeing’ tour her parents took her on while they were still in town.

Juliet hopped around from shop to shop. She got a collection of stretchy black and brown tops, a pair of tweed trousers, a knit scarf and mittens to match, new stockings, new sheets, and a few other home decoration purchases.

The only thing that caused Juliet considerable financial pain was when she went to buy shoes. She wanted to buy at least three pairs. She needed boots, she needed heels and she needed something that wouldn’t break her ankles. Altogether, the ones she bought were so expensive they hurt her feelings.

Once she was done, she went on her impossible search to find a perfume that smelled like pomegranates.  

The woman at the department store said, “There’s Euphoria by Calvin Klein.”

Juliet looked at the price and almost choked. She was clearly in the wrong store. Her budget was almost completely gone after the shoes, and she still wanted to buy some make-up, but she asked to smell it anyway. It was so familiar.  

“Can I smell the men’s cologne, please?”

“Certainly,” the lady said with a smile. She sprayed some on a card and handed it to Juliet.

One breath of that scent and Juliet was forced to respond, “I’d like to get it, but unfortunately, that’s the cologne my boyfriend wears.”

“He has excellent taste,” she smiled.

“Of course he does,” Juliet agreed dryly before she exited the store.  

In the end, she forgot about the perfume. She got make-up instead: the whitest shade of foundation she had ever been able to find, an eye shadow that had black, gray, and raspberry together, and new lipstick.

After all that she was completely out of cash. She didn’t even have enough money left to buy herself a pop from a vending machine. She had to get back to Lister so she could get a drink and bill it to her meal card.  

When she got back to her dorm, she left her bags in her room and went straight to the cafeteria. She sat down to her Hawaiian pizza and Minute Maid and said, “That was a job well done.” Then she ate and spent the rest of her evening going through her garbage bags again. She picked out the bedding she was going to pitch and spent the rest of the evening in the laundromat thinking of how far she had come in only one day.