MY LITTLE BROWN DRESS

After we drove down from the summit at Rocky Mountain National Park with our big, colorful shoulder bag (see yesterday's blog), we headed in to Estes Park to do some more shopping. Incense wafting out from the door of a funky Nepalese place lured us in to our first stop. And, there, I saw it: a soft brown dress doused with elaborate stitching!

"This is so me!!" I swooned to Big Bore. "It matches my hair!" Well, okay, the color my hair USED to be. And at $24.95 it was price right. Sold! That was simple.

But the ordeal was just beginning. You see, a little Nepalese lady about my age was babysitting the store for her daughter, and what English the poor woman spoke was minimal to nothing, bless her heart. And to add difficulty to our transaction, she was clueless about what to do if someone came into the store and actually wanted to purchase something.

I whipped out my credit card, thinking that would make things easier. "No," she said and shrugged her shoulders like she didn't know how to operate the credit card machine.

"That's all right. I have cash." I whipped out three ten-dollar bills onto the counter. She then grabbed a cell phone and called someone, I'm assuming her daughter, to find out what to do. She spoke in her native language and, following some directions, keyed the price of the little brown dress into the register. It belched open. Now what?

Time to get out the cell phone again. From what I could determine, the person on the other end was telling her the tax to add on to the sale price. Done. Now what?

She didn't know how to make change. Time for The Flaming Bore to step in and help out. "You owe me ...." whatever it was. Two one-dollar bills and some change. She started to give me two ten-dollar bills.

"No. No. Ones," and I held up one finger. Then I pointed into the cash till and showed her what change to give me. Had I been a dishonest person, the register would have been emptied and she'd have been none the wiser. But The Flaming Bore would never fleece a Nepalese lady in a strange land. Transaction complete. Happy. happy. The little brown dress was mine!

It's going to be months before I can actually wear my new frock, since it's only for spring/summer, so I'm using the coming months to ponder accessories. Gold jewelry, lime green flip-flops, brown capri pants, maybe. Hopefully, by the time warmer weather returns, I'll still be able to suck it in and worm my way into the dress.