Worn

28Oct09

It had been worn by 35 women on 36 happy occasions. (One woman wore it again for a vow renewal.) It showed just the tiniest signs of use. A loose thread here, a cake stain there. It was the gown that had lasted the longest of all the apparel that Susan Kitsman rented out of her bridal shop.

Each time a dress was rented out it was marked. If the wedding was a success, if all the interested parties showed up,there were no sudden dramatic objections and the couple survived the honeymoon then the dress was placed back into rotation.

However, if a dress went out the door and the marriage did not go through for any reason, when the dress came back it was placed in a box and did not again see the light of day.

Susan Kitsman was not a superstitious person but she had been to a wedding once to marry a fine young thing named David. They were all named David, even when they were not. David had not shown. Her life had lost meaning, she found out later that the dress she wore had been worn once before by a woman whose groom had also not shown. The dress was returned and resold.

The dress, as Susan Kitsman would learn, was tainted. She sold it at a yard sale to a young woman with bright eyes and a David of her own. She would later return it. Her David skipped town with a Betty. Susan was a slow learner and again the dress was sold and again it came back with a tear stained broken woman trailing behind it.

The dress was that night burned.

Which may have been a bit dramatic. So each dress since that has become labored with the sadness and dismay of a woman that would not be wed was placed away from the light.

Of all the dresses she had sold in her fifteen years as a dress maker only two had made it past the tenth use. And of those, this dress was the flagship. A dress that had stories of near misses and incalculable joy stitched into the hem.

And today it was being trotted out for Susan Kitsman herself. She was trying again after twenty years of maidenhood. After she had gone from a beautiful blushing bride of twenty to a handsome matron of forty. After she had gone through a dozen David’s who were here until tomorrow.

This one was thankfully named Rodger.

As the ceremony moved forward and the big moment loomed, she clutched at the dress and felt the power of its joy. As the final syllables were uttered and a shock to learn that Rodger’s middle name was inexplicably David passed then she felt a sudden heat from the dress and a light seemed to emanate from within and as his mouth opened Susan was relieved to hear exactly the two syllables that she needed.

Filed under: 100 Ways to Find Love in the City   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Kitsman's Bridal, Rodger David Nolans, Susan Kitsman