Claire was having a busy week, pursuing a new idea she'd had. She worked through her lunch break on Wednesday, but found she needed something to get her through the day. She made a quick trip to the coffee shop.
"Hi Claire," Terri greeted her. "I hadn't seen you for a while, and where's the non-boyfriend?"
"I've been really busy on a work project. As for the location of Andy, I'm not sure. I haven't seen him all week. I assume he's out of the office."
"You here for lunch?"
"I wish, but I'm really pressed to get back. Do you have something quick that will give me enough of a 'sugar high' to get me through the afternoon?"
Terri thought. "How about a blueberry muffin? They're really good."
"That does sound good." Terri brought it. The noon crowd was gone, so Terri sat and talked while Claire munched.
"Umm, it is good. It's so big, though, I may have to take part of it back with me.
"Say, I've been wondering about something. You've known Andy quite some time, right?"
"Close to a year, I guess."
"And you talk, regularly?"
"Well, between customers, mainly. What's on your mind?"
"It seems very unlikely to me that you would have been talking with Andy for a year, and would have thought that he worked in the mail room."
Terri gave a little snort. "Well, that was fairly recent information."
"How recent?"
"Like, the first day you came in with him. He whispered to me, 'If the subject comes up, I work in the mailroom.' That's all he said."
"So, you knew what he really did?"
"Oh, sure."
Claire pondered that. "So, you just abetted him."
That's probably a good word for it."
"But why did he want you to say that?"
"Who knows what silliness lies in the minds of men? I sure don't. Later, I suspected it was just to set up telling that awful joke. The subject never came up, again."
Claire just shook her head. "Say, I need to get back to the office. Can you give me something to put my muffin in?"
Terri brought her a little bag. "Nice to chat with you, Claire. Bring the non-boyfriend, next time."
"I will if I ever see him, again," Claire, said over her shoulder, as she went out the door.
***
Claire still hadn't seen Andy all week, and she had to admit to herself that she missed him. When, on Friday, he appeared by her side at the elevator, and whispered, "Coffee time?" she felt a pleasant relief.
"Hi, stranger," she said, after they were seated at the coffee shop. "Have you been away?"
"A little working vacation. I went to help my mother with a few things. Actually, it's more a family outing. Both of my sisters live near Mom, so she's well looked after. We just use 'helping Mom' as a reason to get together a couple times a year, and catch up on what we've all been doing. Mom usually does have some project she's been planning, and we all pitch in on that. It's fun.
"What have you been up to?"
She smiled at that. "I've been trying to take a little of the advice that you didn't give me."
"Wait a minute. I don't give advice, and you certainly would not take advice from a man."
"Oh, I know that. You were just communicating with the Universe, and I happened to be listening in. That's what I just said. Keep up, Andy. After talking to you - during which you did not give me any advice - I came up with some ideas about how I might make some changes in my work in the office."
"Well, that's clear, now. What ideas did you have?"
"One was that I brought my secretary a latte. It surprised her."
"I imagine."
Claire ignored him. "Later, she came into my office, and we talked awhile. I said I was sorry if I hadn't been friendlier - that I had some personal problems that had me upset - but I shouldn't have taken it out on her. She very graciously accepted my apology, and things have been a lot nicer around our desks. We're not best friends, or anything. I can still be a little prickly, at times."
"Hard to believe, but that's nice, with your secretary. Anything else?"
"I had what I thought was a pretty good idea, but I've been having trouble getting anyone to listen to me. I went to one of the guys, and asked if he would help me."
"Wow, that's something. Who did you ask?"
"Jack. I figured that he was always an active part of any discussions, and if I could get someone like him on my side... Well, he wasn't interested, at first. He said he had plenty of his own work to do. However, when I explained a little bit more of my idea, he became interested, and he's been helping a lot. We're going to present the idea at our next staff meeting."
"Exciting," acknowledged Andy. He felt a little twinge of concern, but it wasn't anything to talk about at that time.
"I have something else I want to talk to you about, Andy, if you're ready for a very complicated discussion."
"I feel pretty strong, today. But before I commit, what's the topic?"
"Women's fashion."
"Oh, well, that's right up my alley. I wondered when we'd get into that. So, what about women's fashion?"
"Rather a simple question, for someone with your experience, I imagine. Why do women wear dresses, and men wear long pants?"
Andy checked to see how serious she was. He couldn't tell. He decided to play along. "As you say, a simple question. Before I answer, perhaps you should tell me a little of the background of your question."
"Okay, I can do that. Jenny said - oh, wait, you don't know Jenny. She was my Home Economics teacher in high school. Anyway, she said that God had made women for just one purpose - to be wives and mothers. She'd never been able to find it in the Bible, but it was obviously something that everybody knew. The message was very clear, and put it in no uncertain terms.
"You remember the Freud quote I'm thinking about, of course.
"Of course, but why don't you recite it, just so it's clear in both of our minds?"
"I don't know if I can quote it exactly, but I can come close."
"That's fine. You won't be graded on it."
"Okay, it goes something like this: Boys had to figure out what they were going to do, and be, in life, but - oh, I do know this part word-for-word - 'Nature has determined woman's destiny through beauty, charm and sweetness.' He added that 'the position of women will surely be what it is: in youth an adored darling, and in mature years a loved wife.' Just to make it even clearer, he noted that women who wanted a career were neurotic, and just jealous of men."
"Ah yes, that's the quote I thought you were referring to."
"I was sure you knew it. Well, here's where I really get to my question. As girls grow up, they can sometimes get confused, and start to think that they might have other options in life. To head this off, somebody (I'm not sure who) came up with a long-term development plan. When babies are born, they are labeled as either 'pink' - girls - or 'blue' - boys. Baby girls get pink blankets, pink sleep suits, and pink-walled nurseries - which someone had previously decided was a 'girl' color. Boys stayed sort-of blue, but not so rigidly. They seemed to have every option, but pink.
"Okay, next come toys. Girls get dolls - surrogate babies, for when they become mommies - while boys get dump trucks and race cars. When a little older, boys get erector sets and chemistry sets. Girls get toy stoves and little dishes, cups and saucers - another aim at future domesticity.
"Now, you're following along, aren't you?"
"Definitely."
"Good. Well, here's where things seem to go off the rails. It is decided that girls will wear skirts and dresses, boys jeans and such. Now, you could interrupt me, and point out that in other times and other cultures, men have worn dresses. That's true, but we're talking about contemporary America, right? Right. Okay then, remember where we are heading. Girls are being trained well as mothers and homemakers, but how about that first big step - attracting a future husband? Freud made it clear that girls had to be beautiful, charming, and sweet, but others have pointed out that men look for chaste, virginal girls when they're looking for a wife. Are dresses really the best attire for both of those requirements?"
"Are you asking me, or is it a rhetorical question?"
"Mostly the latter. Do you know what my first experience wearing dresses was? No, you don't. You weren't around. Well, I'll tell you. It was in First grade - maybe even Kindergarten. I was a happy-go-lucky little five- or six-year-old, racing around the playground at recess -swinging on the swings, hanging from the monkey bars, climbing on the jungle gym. As I was really getting going on a long swing, you know what I heard? Two little boys chanting, 'I see London, I see France, I see someone's underpants.' I was so embarrassed, I didn't play on the swings the rest of the year.
"Fast forward a bunch of years. I remember that we girls used to pull our dresses up tight between our legs, whenever we walked up stairs or climbed on a ladder. This was so the boys walking and waiting behind us wouldn't get a free view up inside our skirts. If it was God who decided women should wear dresses, God was a pervert!
"But, anyway, let's talk about pants on women. Some churches won't let women in the congregation if they're wearing slacks. Some fancy restaurants are the same. Why? Slacks can be as dressy as any dress. Women - well, obviously not me - but some women can pay a thousand dollars for women's pants that are more elegant than any formal frock. They are chic, and they protect a woman's modesty. We're not talking about pedal pushers, or jeans. We're talking high fashion. I don't get it!"
Andy thought about that for a moment." I know that you can't get in to some fancy restaurants, or some high society events, if you're in trousers. Isn't that kind of like not letting men in if they aren't wearing a tie:"
"That's not quite the same, is it? That's just trying to be high-class. The pants thing is aimed directly at women. It's not as if any man seeing a woman in pants would have any doubt that he was seeing a female of the species."
"I certainly wouldn't," Andy quickly agreed. "If I saw you in slacks - either fancy ones or plain ones - I would know you were a woman, immediately."
She gave him an uncertain look. "Thanks, I think."
"My pleasure. Well, it would be a great pleasure to see you, any time at all."
She looked a little confused. "That sounded quite personal. Andy, you can't say that! We're not sure we even like each other."
"That wasn't personal. It was just a statement of fact. A very lovely fact, for sure. In fact..."
Claire put her hands over her ears. "Stop, you're making it worse!" But she was smiling.
Behind the counter, Terri was also smiling. The acoustics in the room were very good that afternoon.
Go to “Claire, Part Five” (linked above)
To the Writing It Down Homepage
Why don’t you leave a comment?