A story from Wonderland by Hitomi
Grand Opening
"Mrs.Malchovich's Closet"

Greetings!
Oct: 10th    Weather: Sunny again
 
"Mrs.Malchovich's Closet" launched Grand Opening a few weeks before Halloween. When Mr.Shrewbury left for Brooklyn, he leased the store to Mrs.Malchovich with reasonable rent to wish her the best.
When Don insisted Mrs.Malchovich have an opening before Halloween comes, Mrs.Malchovich got upset.
"These clothes I designed are not for Halloween costumes!"
But since Don kept saying "trust my business instinct", she decided to listen to him.
 
clset 1
Don made the flyers and handed them out in our neighborhood, downtown, Hollywood and all the locations he could go. 
"Don, you are so talented. You should be a flyer designer." said Sylvia, who came back from New York a month earlier than she planned to help Mrs.Malchovich.
They all loved the flyer Don designed.
But Kenny and I were a little worried.
"My mom thinks her clothes are not for Halloween."
"She will be very upset if she sees this flyer."closet 2
But Don disagreed with full of confidence.
"Kenny, Only your family walks around the street with those clothes on. Ordinary people wear those only either on Halloween or at a Christmas party. Believe me she will make a fortune by Halloween."
"Finally we get rid of her clothes. Thanks God. I can have my own closet back now." Lisa delighted.
"I'm so excited to see my sister starting her new life." Sylvia kissed Don.
 
closet 3
  
Don's instinct turned out right.
In three days after Mrs. Malchovich opened the store, she made a lot of profits and it was more than we expected.
Kenny in Angle costume and I in Bee costume stood outside the store, which was  Don's idea to get more people to the store from the street.
 
 
 
closet 4
 
                                             
 
 
We successfully got attentions from people on the street.                       
 
 
 
 
 
 
We all were excited about this big event and enjoyed helping the customers. 
But unfortunately there was one person who was quite unhappy about this.
 
 
                                            closet unhappy mrs malchovich 
 
                                       Yes. Mrs.Malchovich.
 
"I 'm not so sure about this" said Mrs.Malchovich when the store got quiet.
"Here you go again. Stop bringing in negativity when things are going well." Counting money at the cash register, Sylvia rolled her eyes.
"Sylvia, these all clothes here are not just clothes.Each of them has  memorable moments in my life."
Mrs.Malchovich begged for understanding from Sylvia, who continued to count money. 
"When I got divorced, Kenny told me he would be with me forever to protect me. I never forget that moment. He was my angel. I made that angel clothes to dedicate to Kenny."
Mrs.Malchovich pointed at Kenny. Now tears formed in her eyes.
"Mom, stop being so sentimental."said Lisa, exchanging eye contact with Sylvia.
"I am not being sentimental. Each clothes here is very very special. I just don't think any of the customers are acknowledging that. "
Mrs. Malchovich shook her head painfully and sat down on the chair in despair.
"Why do the customers need to acknowledge that to buy your clothes?" asked Sylvia.
"If they don't, that hurts." answered Mrs.Malchovich.
"Mom! We don't have any more closets left to put them.We have to do something about it!"Lisa said out loud.
"Oh, are we having a garage sale here? You wanted to get rid of them?"
Mrs.Malchovich stood up from the chair again and raised her voice.
Finally Sylvia lost her patience, and slammed the cash register shut.
"The customers are happy to have your clothes. Why can't you just be grateful and happy about it? You have really got to stop living in your memory!"
 
 
It was then that one customer brought a dress to the cash register to pay for.
Sylvia put a smile back on her face and Lisa took the dress to wrap it. 
But when the customer took money out of her purse, Mrs. Malchovich slowly pointed at the dress in Lisa's hand and said determinedly,"I am NOT selling that."
"Oh, Not for sale?" The customer asked, surprised.
"Yes, we ARE selling it."Sylvia responded to the customer with a rigid smile.
"Oh, for sale?" The customer said, confused.
All of sudden Mrs. Malcovich yanked the dress from Lisa's hand and yelled at Sylvia. 
"Do you know what made me design this dress?  6 years ago I visited you
in New York. Remember we talked about our lives in Central Park under the beautiful fall colors? That was the moment we connected. It was one of memorable moments in my life."
 
                             closet malchovich and sylvia 
"Stop living in the past!"
Sylvia yanked the dress back from Mrs. Malchovich's hand.
"This dress was dedicated to you!"
Mrs. Malchovich screamed and tried to snatch the dress back from Sylvia's hand.
Pulling the dress away from Mrs. Malchovich, Sylvia said, "Thank you, but I don't think I will ever find an opportunity to wear this."
 
mrs.malchovich closet open
 
Feeling uncomfortable while Sylvia and Mrs.Malchovich argued,
Don finally chimed in.closet jolley in leaf dress 
"I think it's a cool dress. Angelina Jolie can look good on that in Academy." 
But unfortunately Don's remark made Sylvia more mad. 
"What makes you think Angelina Jolie wants to be a leaf in Academy? "
 
Kenny and I started to worry if this was going to be a big fight.
"Mrs. Malchovich might close the store."
I whispered to Kenny.
"But she has just opened it."
Kenny whispered back to me.
 
"Give it back to me!"
When Mrs. Malchovich snatched the leaf dress from Sylvia, the customer standing there calmly joined the conversation. 
"That's a beautiful dress. You are so talented, Mrs.Malchovich. "
Everybody looked at the customer.
Giving Mrs.Malchovich a gentle smile, the customer went on.
"It's hard to give away things we have feelings for. I am like that, too. I still have some baby clothes my son wore and a bathing suit I had on on my first date with my husband. I can't even fit in any more though."
Mrs.Malchovich gave a surprise look at the customer.
"They are not just clothes for me. Something very special. So, Mrs.Malchovich,I understand how you feel. I really do."
Mrs. Malchovich slowly put her hand on the customer's shoulder and nodded.
"You deserve this dress."
Since Sylvia gestured the rest of us to come outside with her, we all followed her quietly and left Mrs.Malchovich and the customer alone in the store.
Where she took us was Everybody's Ice Creams, which made us forget about what just happened in the store. But Don and Sylvia kept talking about Mrs.Malchovich.
everybody's icecream closet
"You should be nicer to your sister. She is going through a healing process right now."said Don.
"I hate to see her bringing up the past all the time. I'm tired of listening to her saying "Remember this?" and "Remember that?" I want her to live in the present. I want to see her enjoying her life instead of talking about her memorable moments every ten minutes."said Sylvia.
"She is trying and we are helping it. Look at the name of her store. Technically she is not even Mrs. Malchovich anymore, but she is still keeping it. Until she willingly changes it, we are going to help her out. Plus you should apologize for the fact you insulted her leaf dress. She was thinking about you while creating it.How much more do you wish from your sister?"said Don.
What Don said made Sylvia quiet. Looking at Sylvia, who was staring at the ground in silence, Don patted her back and said, "Let me buy you that leaf dress. Even if you don't want it, just do me a favor and take the gift from me. I want to give her another memorable moment."
Sylvia seemed very touched by this Don's remark. She looked up at Don in admiration and slowly put her head on his shoulder. 
"Don. You are so nice. "
 
When we got back to the store, Mrs.Malchovich was preparing to close the cash register. .
"We can go on a vacation to Italy." 
Mrs.Malchovich said to us with a big smile. She looked very happy now.
Then I saw Don meaningfully walking toward Mrs.Malchovich and Sylvia proudly looking at Don.
"Mrs.Malchovich, I want to buy your leaf dress."
It was supposed to be a moving moment, but Mrs.Malchovich made a frown face and said, "Leaf dress? I just sold it to her."
"You sold it to her!? You said it was dedicated to me!"
Sylvia stepped forward, upset.
Mrs.Malchovich slowly closed the cash register.
"You don't believe what that customer has been through. Two time divorcee, her son in Afghanistan and her grandchild in the hospital, Lukemia.But she is so positive and generous. I feel so fortunate to have the customer like her keeping my dress. After you guys left, she opened her heart to me and I opened mine to her. We connected. It was one of the memorable moments in my life. I am going to donate some of the clothes here to the children's hospital where her grandson stays. Kids in the hospital could use some cheering up for Halloween. So Kenny, take off that angel costume right now."
 
I was happy to see Mrs. Malchovich get her smile back. But when I saw Kenny fiddling his angel wings and pouting, I realized all the rest except for me didn't look so excited about Mrs.Malchovich's sudden change. It didn't make sense to me, but I guess all of sudden they didn't want to let go of the clothes dedicated to them.
 
Anyway I was relieved Mrs. Malchovich's closet would stay open.
Another Good day!
 
                                 closet happ mrs malchovich
 
 
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