Family Upon Family

Told by her mother, Lily thought they were to shop at a mall. And Max, her little sister, wanted to tag along. However, deceived, they arrived in a parking lot and looked at the brown buildings afar; at the last minute, their mother, Mrs. Smith, decided to shop at a nearby thrift store. They needed dresses before next week; since their mother's sister was getting married to her ex-husband, Mrs. Smith had said over and over to her mother, Elizabeth, that their relationship was gone long ago. 

Mrs. Smith parked the car a reasonable distance. Lily knew she needed to be on her best behavior because of their grandmother, Elizabeth, coming along with them - the tension in the air between grandma and Mrs. Smith; and Mrs. Smith was first to step out of the car. Both Lily and Max then sured themselves to open their doors at the same time, afraid Mrs. Smith felt she needed to wait on people, especially her kids.

They waited near the car, or at least Max and Lily waited; - “wait for your grandma,” Mrs. Smith ordered and walked towards the store, struggling with her purse. As Elizabeth adjusted herself in the passenger seat before stepping out.

She was old, Lily thought, about 70 years old. They watched as Elizabeth held herself steady, grabbed onto the door to pull to her feet, then finally, lifted her body to balance herself. She slams the door and, turning to her granddaughters, she says irritably, noticing their mother already walked inside, “I didn't need to come along; I really didn't need to.” She pulls at her purse on her shoulder and tells Max to hold her hand, as they begin walking up. “She really didn't need to do that,” Elizabeth whispers to herself angrily. “She really didn't need to.”

The afternoon was not heavy with heat; the rain yesterday left a soothing smell across the concrete. Giving the day, as Lily thought, like something strange and adventurous was going to happen. Once they made it, the doors slid open automatically, and an air of familiarity came to Lily as she remembered other times she felt deceived.

Entering, she checked each time if her height compared to the carts as she watched her mother retrieve one on the right, changed anytime while away.

Mrs. Smith walked by Elizabeth, pushing her cart, “you could've at least waited for me, darling,” Elizabeth then said, adjusting her purse for effect. Mrs. Smith ignores her and continues through the second set of sliding doors.

Still holding Elizabeth's cold hands, Max and Lily look at one another as though Max wants to trade places. Elizabeth began walking forward to the second set of doors slowly and said to Lily, without looking at her, “Go follow your mother. She needs to know your size.”

But, after letting Lily walk a bit further, Elizabeth then said, “I'll send Max to you guys, later.” She looks at Max, and Max stares blankly up at her; her small, soft face that looks like it could easily deflate.

“Come on,” Elizabeth begins towards Max, putting on a smile, “let's go see if they have any toys you might like.”

Lily walks around an aisle of clothes as Max, then, loses sight of her big sister - both hoping to meet each other later.

With each passing moment, Lily watched as her mother walked between aisles, looking back at her, then lightly mentioned suggestions for her outfit. “Did Auntie ever tell you she loved seeing you in blue,” Mrs. Smith said. She grabbed a corner of a skirt, while her other hand held the handle of the cart; light blue with white, smooth flowers covering mostly the top portion of the dress; Mrs. Smith adds, “I think I finally could agree with her on that one,” and continues pushing the cart to the next aisle. Lily only nods, feeling a deep sadness succumbing to her mood. When she focuses, since she's small but taller than Max, the aisle of clothes passes her on both sides, creating a rainbow of choices for different dresses for different sizes. “What about this one, Lily?” Mrs. Smith asks. She held a dark blue dress against her chest, her hand rubbing the fabric. She smiles and glances at Lily; her red lipstick sharpening the corner of her lips.

Lily nodded: “It’s pretty,” she said deliberately. “I think we could just get that one.”

Mrs. Smith looks at the dress and raises it in front of her, then glances at Lily then back at the dress.

“Let's keep looking; I'm sure we'll find something better.” Mrs. Smith throws the dress over the clothes hanging on a silver bar and continues. Then says, “Let's try a different color - maybe white or yellow? Let's stay away from blue, for now.” Lily nods again. Thinking about saying something like, “Good idea” or “That's fair,” - but then thought: she wouldn't even hear me from down here. She touched the dress one last time before catching up to her mother. 

Lily wondered if she should ask to buy some new shoes as she stared at the ones she wore. They walk into a section for pants made for ages eight to twelve, and Mrs. Smith stops to look at Lily. Touching lightly with her finger some pants between a thousand others. Then giving a look that said, “too small for her, or too this or that.” She continued walking and looking at more pants and skirts. Lily looked back at her shoes, then thought, I bet I’ll see one girl own these exact pair, before looking up and seeing Mrs. Smith stopped again. She says, “Honey? Go get your little sister,” holding a small, yellow skirt against her chest. And observing it, she peeked at the price tag confirming her thoughts.

“Okay,” Lily said. She glanced around before walking out the aisle, away from Mrs. Smith as she continued grabbing other skirts. Lily tried to think where a good spot for toys would be in the store. After a few minutes of looking around, she spotted an old woman and a small girl holding hands, and even if there were dozens of people throughout the aisles and sections between clothes and furniture, Lily knew and went and tapped on the little girl’s shoulder, and it was confirmed it was Max holding hands with Elizabeth. “Mom wants to see Max,” Lily said. Both girls then look up at Elizabeth.

“Of course, we’ll be right over,” she said, “go ahead and head back to your mother.” However, looking behind and staring at thousands of different people, men and women with their children, going in and out of aisles, Lily decided she’d wait until Elizabeth walked over. She let go of Max, and Lily and Max held hands - finally connected again.

Elizabeth puts away a doll she tried showing to Max; “okay,” she said to herself. She walks out of the toy aisle and scans the entire store. After a few seconds, she spotted their mother, saying again tiredly, “Okay.” They walked between people, a few almost hitting Max and Lily because of how small they are. A few times, they thought they had lost Elizabeth after nearly getting cornered by other adults hurrying by. Once Mrs. Smith spots Max, she right away orders her to come and try on the yellow skirt.

“Don’t you think your daughter should wear that?” Elizabeth said, giggling.

“Mom, please; It’s gonna fit her,” Mrs. Smith said without looking at her. She puts the skirt around the waist of Max and then determines the fit by her chest. Lily watched her little sister get grabbed around, both glancing at each other, now hoping this shopping would end soon. When Mrs. Smith starts looking around the store, Elizabeth then says, “I saw a fitting room over there,” and points over, where Mrs. Smith spots a sign: ‘Dressing Rooms.’

“Come one, girls,” Mrs. Smith said and asked Lily to hold Max’s skirt.

They all walked over, and Mrs. Smith was quicker than Elizabeth, almost leaving her behind since she could barely walk; Lily had to slow down to hold hands with Elizabeth, knowing Mrs. Smith would’ve asked her to wait for her anyway.

She parked her cart against the front of a desk, causing a small clash. Behind the desk of the dressing room, a boy, little full around the cheeks and ill fitted, watched as Mrs. Smith asked Lily to hand Max her skirt. Lily, letting go of Elizabeth's old hand, walked quickly over to give Max the skirt. Max then grabbed the yellow skirt with both of her small, soft hands and looked back and up at Mrs. Smith, courteously.

“Go ahead, sweetheart. We'll be right here waiting for you.”

“I'll go with her,” Lily said.

Both Mrs. Smith and Elizabeth glanced at one another hastily then looked away as Mrs. Smith said to Lily, “make sure you bring her out so we could look at her.”

Both girls nodded, the boy then gave them a number for a room and both, then, strolled and disappeared behind the corner. Entering a hall full of doors with a mirror at the end. The boy goes back looking ill fitted and staring blankly behind the desk. Mrs. Smith sits on a bench near the entrance, and sighs. Elizabeth goes and leans against the wall, opposite of Mrs. Smith. Both then try to avoid eye contact as they wait.

Meanwhile, Max wanted the closest room by the exit, but Lily chose the farthest by the mirror at the end of the hall. They walked inside the room and closed the door. As Lily helped Max undress, then put on the skirt, they both looked at each other in the mirror inside the room. The lights around the glass had a faded hue, softening their skin in the reflection, making their face slimmer and clean. They watched before turning to each other, and Max asking, “are you coming with us to see auntie get married?” She pulls up her yellow skirt, and Lily says, half heartedly, “no, only you.” She opens the door and lets her little sister exit to go show to Mrs. Smith. Walking down the hall, Lily adds, “I think she’s gonna just take you. I'm too big for mommy now.”

They walked around the corner; the boy glances at them then at Mrs. Smith as she stands up, looks at Max joyfully; and all look at Elizabeth. She stood up and leaned back on the wall, nodding. Elizabeth crosses her arms and continues staring out towards the aisles and people. Mrs. Smith throws her hand in the air towards Elizabeth and looks back at Lily. “Ignore Elizabeth, sweetie. I think you look wonderful, don’t she, Max?” Mrs. Smith said, as she began grabbing the skirt and repositioning it around Lily’s waist.

“Yeah. She’s pretty,” Max said flatly.

“I think she looks foolish,” Elizabeth then said. Mrs. Smith glances at her angrily, then back at Lily. Finally fixing her skirt.

“You girls go back, and we’ll get going. Grandma needs to take her medication,” Mrs. Smith said sourly. Elizabeth scuffs. She starts walking away from the dressing room.

“I’ll meet you up front,” she said, and pushed up her purse on her shoulder. Her heels sharply clicked with each step. The girls then run back around the corner - the boy goes back staring - Mrs. Smith then sits back on the bench. Suddenly, a tear came around her eyes, and she quickly turned her head away; pulling out a small tissue, and began dapping her eye. “Oh, mom,” she says depressingly, under her breath. After a few minutes, Max and Lily walked back out, hand the number back to the boy, and Mrs. Smith ordered them to follow her, up towards the registers. She paid for the skirt, relieved there wasn’t a line. They walked out and back down the parking lot, Max and Lily seeing Elizabeth sitting in the front seat, her eyes closed, resting. The sun is still warm. Max and Lily hop in the backseat quickly as Mrs. Smith slams her door, glancing at Elizabeth, as Elizabeth remains quiet. She starts the car, and gently as she can, makes her way out the parking lot and on the way back home.

Elizabeth, not opening her eyes, then says to Mrs. Smith, “Your sister texted me. She asked if you're still coming to her wedding party.” All remained quiet as Mrs. Smith, holding the wheel steadily, now getting on the highway, glances at her mother. Sighing, trying to hold in her tears, saying, “of course, just say yes.” Max and Lily both glance at each other, realizing, like the time they hid in the closet during their parents fighting, they knew they needed to plan to take cover for the next fight that was coming between Mrs. Smith and her sister - and maybe, Elizabeth.