TRUE STORY

ALTERATIONS AND DRY CLEANING

Tecla CA

In an adjacent neighborhood that I must frequent on business was a tiny shop that would be difficult to notice if you were not looking for it. The old sign in the window read "ALTERATIONS AND DRY CLEANING."

It was for the latter that I entered the little cubbyhole one after- noon several years ago with a pair of my favorite skirts that had been away too long and were in need of freshening. Bent over a sewing machine, an old woman finished a stitch as she called, "Be right with you."

I gave her the customary story of dropping these things off for my wife, took my ticket and was about to leave when she asked if I was new in the neighborhood. "You not come by my place before," she said in a thick middle-European accent. Explaining how I happened to be in the area, I promised that I would be back again. "You tell your wife I do nice alterations, I work at sewing machine for 50 year," she said. That gave me an idea and I told her that I might have some work for her when I came back for the dry cleaning.

Recently, I had bought a long skirt which I liked very much except that it was rather loose about the waist. Here was the chance to take care of it.

The next week when I returned for the other skirts, I brought the long navy blue one with me, having evolved a plan in the meantime. To my surprise, she remembered me as soon as I came in the doorway and delivered the cleaning without even checking the number on the stub. "Oh, I remember all my customer," she laughed when I ex-

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