Fantasy fiction; Science fiction; Subconsciousness -- Fiction
From a curtained doorway, a small dark woman, the manageress of the
department, looked out and emitted a thin cry of disbelief. The model,
now stripped to the waist, was hugging herself in a paroxysm of horror.
Throwing back the curtains, the manageress ran forward.
"Madam!" she cried. "Madam! You really mustn't!" She hastened to
Toffee's side and tried to pull her away from the terrified girl. "If
you like the dress, please step back to the fitting room."
"Step back to the fitting room yourself!" Toffee snapped. "And don't
call me madam!"
"But the model...."
"She'll have to take her chances," Toffee gritted determinedly. "I need
this dress worse than she does." The skirt came free in her hand,
revealing the model in nothing more than a pair of very sheer panties.
"Oh, madam!" the girl wailed.
"Well, don't just stand there, exposing yourself!" the manageress
cried. "Grab something and put it on!"
Gazing about frantically, the girl's eyes shot to the next model who
had been displaying a negligee when all the trouble started. Reaching
out, she deftly grabbed the zipper and yanked. The garment relinquished
its hold and slithered to the floor in a vaporous cloud. The first
model snatched it up and hurriedly put it on. The second model, finding
herself revealed in the flesh, announced her shock in a shrill scream
and made a wild grab for the mink coat that lay in the lap of a nearby
customer. The customer, however, was too quick for her. Despite her
over-padded figure, she shot out of her chair on the run.
"No you don't!" she screamed, "not after all I went through to get
this!"
"Come back here!" the model yelled determinedly and took out in hot
pursuit.
* * * * *
As bedlam became the general order of the day in the salon, Sergeant
Feeney and his crew charged heroically up the stairway, announcing
their arrival with a shrill blast from the sergeant's whistle. At the
sight of the scrambling customers and models, the men in blue jolted to
a flat-footed halt.
"Lord in heaven!" the sergeant gasped, removing the whistle from
his lips. The fur-bearing customer and denuded model shot past him,
collided with a plaster manniquin and tumbled to the floor in a frantic
tangle of arms, legs and mink. The sergeant flushed furiously and
turned back to his followers. "Scour lightly here, men," he said. "We
don't want nobody bruised."
Taking advantage of the sergeant's momentary dismay, Marc shoved a bill
into the hand of the screaming manageress, grabbed Toffee, who had now
struggled into the dress, and, flanking the befuddled law, led her
quickly to the stairs.
"Hurry!" he said. "And be quiet."
"You're under arrest!" the sergeant roared behind them. "Everybody's
under arrest--probably!"
In record time, Marc and Toffee gained the level of the second floor
and kept on running. As they ran, Toffee returned Marc's coat and he
slipped it on.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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