Alissa Razatski (part 1)

It all began when Evelyn’s boss, Mr. Rogers, called her and asked her to come to his office. Evelyn was nervous. She worked at the company for a year and a half now, and she’d only been in Mr. Rogers’ office once. Her job was a simple desk job that required no special skills. The work was boring but she was glad with what she’d been able to get. These were hard times for the economy, and there were always rumors about closing factories or moving product lines to China. Her company was part of a very large multinational, so she knew such decisions were made far above her head, and even her own boss might not have much to say about it. And she was realistic enough to know that, if jobs were on the chopping block, hers was one of the first in line. With these uncomfortable thoughts, she went to Mr. Rogers’ office.

“Hello, Evelyn. Please take a seat.” Mr. Rogers said politely, but his face was very serious, even grave. Evelyn feared that she had been right about the reason for this visit. But then Mr. Rogers said something she didn’t expect.
"You know who Alissa Razatski is?" Evelyn nodded. Of course she knew the name of Alissa Razatski. One of the richest people on earth, most people would have at least heard of her. But people in this company, especially, should know the name. She was after all the CEO of the multinational it belonged to.
"Miss Razatski will be visiting our company on the 16th of December - two weeks from now. She will be given a detailed tour of the whole facility, with technical descriptions of all the processes."
Mr. Rogers was silent for a moment, seeming to think how he should go on. Evelyn thought she maybe needed to say something, but she had no idea what he expected of her. It was clear she had nothing to do with this tour. She only knew a bit about sales, she had no idea how any of the processes in their factory worked.
"Miss Razatski has the habit of choosing a person at random from the staff list to guide her. And she has picked you, Evelyn. That means you'll have to learn everything about the company - or at least enough to have all the information you'll need - in the next two weeks. Now, don't panic. We'll help you as much as we can. You'll have no other tasks during this time. You'll get sessions with the heads of operations who will do their best to explain everything to you. The rest of the time you'll study and memorize this. I'll make sure to make some time for you as well. We'll get you up to date on everything. Do you take you can handle it?"
"Um... I don't know... I hope so..."
"I'm sure it will work out, if you do your best. You'll need to work hard during the next two weeks, but see it as an opportunity. With the knowledge you'll have then, you'll definitely be in consideration for better jobs. And you'll get a very nice one-time bonus as a reward. I do have to stress how important this is. Miss Razatski could close our whole company with a stroke of her pen if she felt like it. I'm exaggerating a bit of course, I'm sure it won't come to that. But if decisions about allocating new product lines need to be made, it would be better to be on good terms with Alissa Razatski."

As Mr. Rogers had said, the next two weeks were hard for Evelyn. She had to cram so much information into her head that she had time for nothing else. Even her dreams were all about the processes in the factory. Except for those in which she was guiding Alissa Razatski through the company, and the most horrible things happened. In one she tripped and fell head-first into a furnace. In another she found herself unable to talk, and Miss Razatski kept looking at her expectantly while she stuttered but didn't manage to utter a single word.

Despite those dreams, she advanced much better than she had expected. Everyone was very helpful and friendly. It she didn't understand something, they patiently explained it again and again. The more she learned, the more her confidence grew that she might actually pull this off successfully. The two weeks rushed by, and before she knew it, it was the 15th - the day before the visit. Mr. Rogers had designated this as the practice day. He took the role of Alissa Razatski himself, and Evelyn would guide him through the company. Evelyn felt she was ready for it. She was mentally going over some parts of her tour when Mr. Rogers said: "Your clothes for tomorrow have arrived, so you can put them on for the rehearsal."
"My clothes?"
"Yes. Miss Razatski picks them herself, and sends them the day before her visit. They arrived earlier today, they're in that box. You will find that they are... unusual. Not quite what you'd expect. Miss Razatski has the reputation of being very eccentric and it seems she's living up to that name."
Curious, Evelyn opened the box. Her mouth dropped open. She'd had no idea what to expect after Mr. Rogers introduction, but this might well be the last thing she'd expected. She pulled out down pants and a down jacket, both in shiny, black nylon, and extremely well filled. Still in the box were a pair of mittens of the same material, and black Moonboots.
She looked up at Mr. Rogers. "Isn't this... some kind of mistake?"
"I'm afraid not. There were instructions that all these items need to be worn, the jacket zipped up, the hood up and tied slightly. I know it's not what one would expect, but if that's Miss Razatski's wish, we have no choice really. We want to do everything to please her."

And so Evelyn went through the rehearsal with Mr. Rogers, dressed for a polar expedition. It went bad at first. She kept forgetting what she was saying as she was too aware of how ridiculous she must look. She could see the bemused looks of her colleagues everywhere. Mr. Rogers told her to focus her attention on him, and ignore everything else. It went better then, and gradually she managed to forget how she was dressed and talk freely. At the end, Mr. Rogers said he was very pleased and that he was sure she would do a great job tomorrow. Evelyn was relieved to get out of those clothes. She was exhausted and sweaty, but a long shower helped her get over that.

---

Evelyn entered Mr. Rogers' office, once again dressed in her completely black, warm and thick outfit. The tall woman who stood inside turned around to look at her - Alissa Razatski. She was a striking figure, not at all how Evelyn had imagined a rich businesswoman. Her feet were in knee-high, black leather boots with high heels - even though she would've been taller than Mr. Rogers even without those. Then there were skin-tight, shiny black pants - latex? A shirt of a similar material, but not as tight around her body. And the most striking, an enormous, heavy-looking black coat. It was open at the front, and went from halfway her boots all the way up to a standing collar behind her neck. Out of the wide sleeves came black leather gloves.

The skin of her face and neck was pale, almost white, and the contrast with her black clothes made her neck seem longer and her features even sharper. Alissa Razatski's black hair was pulled back in a long, tight braid. She had large, expressive eyes, and her mouth's full lips were pressed together in a stark, unsmiling line.

This imposing person now looked down at the much shorter Evelyn, dressed in her heavy clothes with her hood up. Her cool gaze went over the down-clad girl, but she didn't speak. Evelyn felt blood rush to her head and she suddenly got unbearably hot. At that moment she was sure it was somehow all a mistake, or a prank at her expense. Her hands, in their padded nylon mittens, nervously brushed against her down pants. The squishing sound of nylon on nylon seemed very loud in the silence of the room. A drop of sweat escaped the confines of her hood and rolled down her cheek. The moment seemed to stretch forever. All Evelyn felt like doing was turn around and flee, but her Moonboots seemed glued to the floor.

Suddenly, Alissa Razatski's face broke into a smile, and it made her look radiant. "Hello, Evelyn," she said, in a surprisingly soft and kind voice. She stepped forward and offered her hand. Evelyn shook it, her thick and soft mitten in Alissa Razatski's strong leather glove. "I hear you'll show me around here. Shall we go then?" she asked, still in the melodious voice that seemed at odds with her strange and powerful appearance. Mr. Rogers said: "I hope you'll enjoy the tour, Miss Razatski. I'll be here when you come back." Alissa Razatski took her handbag, and then they were off.

At first, all went well. Evelyn rattled off everything she had prepared, and for the first ten minutes or so, Miss Razatski appeared interested. But her interest waned quickly, and soon Evelyn noticed the woman wasn't looking when she pointed something out, didn't react to what she said at all; in short, she didn't appear to be listening at all. And suddenly Alissa Razatski interrupted Evelyn mid-sentence. "I'm bored," she simply said, her voice still soft but somehow clearly audible through Evelyn's words. Evelyn shut up immediately, then didn't know what to say.
"I... um... Maybe we can visit the laboratory..."
"No, I have a better idea," Miss Razatski said. She opened her handbag and started rummaging in it. "I know how we can make this more fun. Where is it... ah, here!" Her hand emerged from the bag and she showed Evelyn a black rubber ball with two straps dangling from it. A gag!
Evelyn was speechless. She could only stare up in confusion and disbelief at this billionaire, this CEO of a multinational, holding up a ball gag in front of her face.
"With this in your mouth, you'll still be able to speak - more or less. It will be quite hard to be comprehensible though. So you'll have to try a bit harder. But that should make it more entertaining, no?"
Alissa Razatski spoke as though this was a perfectly normal request. "I... I..." Evelyn stuttered. Do everything to please her, Mr. Rogers had said. We want to be on good terms with Alissa Razatski. The words echoed through her head. "Okay," she said.
Without wasting time, Miss Razatski opened the collar of Evelyn's down jacket and pushed her hood back. She ran a leather-clad finger across the girl's forehead and looked at the wetness on her glove thoughtfully. "You seem to be warm enough," she remarked, "that's good. I like my girls to be warm." After that cryptic comment she gently pushed the black ball against Evelyn's lips. Evelyn obediently opened her mouth and the ball slid in. Alissa Razatski moved behind her and fastened the strap tightly, securing the gag in her mouth. The ball was not large, so it wasn't too uncomfortable. With some effort she could even barely close her mouth over it. But it would still impede her speech.

Miss Razatski put Evelyn's hood up again, closed the collar and then she started pulling the hood tighter, until her gagged mouth was covered completely and only a hole for her eyes and nose remained. "There," Miss Razatski said, "that will cover the gag, and as an added benefit, it will keep you warmer as well. Now, please continue where you left off."

They went on, and Evelyn did her best to get intelligible words past her gag and hood, but she didn't think she was succeeding. Alissa Razatski didn't seem to mind, she appeared more lively than before the interruption. At one point she stopped Evelyn and said she was thirsty, so Evelyn brought her to the cafeteria. Miss Razatski took a bottle of soda from a fridge and sat down at a table. Evelyn ignored the curious glances and took a seat opposite her.

Alissa Razatski sipped thoughtfully from her soda for a while, and Evelyn quietly waited.
"Well Evelyn, I think you're doing really well so far," Miss Razatski said, and gave her that dazzling smile again.
"Ang ooo," Evelyn said, happy that the powerful woman was pleased, even though she didn't think Miss Razatski had understood anything she had said since she'd been gagged.
"I hope you like the clothes I've chosen for you. I'm from Russia, where it's very cold, so I care a lot about warm clothes. I hope you appreciate them as much as I do."
"Yeff, Miff Mamaffi. Ihw wewy wamm and nife," Evelyn said politely.
"So how are you doing in the company, Evelyn? Have you made any promotion yet?"
"No, Miff. I onny wohg ee siss a yea and a haff."
"That's a shame. You seem very talented to me. I wonder..."
Alissa Razatski was silent for a while, seeming to ponder something. Then she said: "I have a small company back in Russia that I personally take care of. You know, more as a hobby project, to escape the stress of a leading the whole multinational. Anyway, I have an opening for a junior employee, and I think you'd fit the job really well. The salary is very nice, if I may say so. In fact it's multiple times your current pay. It's a pet project of mine, so I don't mind losing money on it, as long as I can enjoy my time there. All the employees there have been specially invited by me. And now I want to invite you to join us there. Of course, that means you'd have to move to Russia. I completely understand if you have a family here that holds you back. But if you don't mind moving to Russia, I'd urge you to at least consider my offer." She took her handbag and opened it, while she continued: "You wouldn't have to worry about finding a place to stay, we take care of everything. Here is my business card. You don't have to say anything right now, just send me an email if you're interested. Then I'll send you more details, and we'll see if we can work out an arrangement."

Even discounting the gag in her mouth, Evelyn was dumbfounded by this unexpected turn of events. She was single, and there was really nothing holding her here. There was really no reason not to accept the offer.

Evelyn never suspected that was exactly why she had been chosen by Alissa Razatski.

Kelly's New Coat

“Kelly, put your hood up,” Rose urged.

“It’s really not that cold,” Kelly protested weakly, but she did what Rose said anyway, and pulled the thick hood of her white down jacket over her brown hair.

Rose glanced at her friend. “Here, let me do this properly,” she said, turning towards her. She zipped the collar, which Kelly had left open, all the way to the top, then pulled the drawstrings of the hood tighter until the collar covered Kelly’s mouth and the hood came to just above her eyebrows. Then she carefully knotted the drawstrings.

Kelly simply stood still while Rose did this, allowing her friend to wrap her up, even though she was really overdressed. It always went like this. Why Rose insisted that she always wore her hood, and why Kelly let her decide that, she didn’t know. It was simply easier than arguing about it.

“And where is your scarf? Didn’t I tell you to wear your scarf?”

Kelly mumbled something about “forgot” and Rose went to the cupboard to fetch Kelly’s scarf. A moment later she wrapped the red scarf around Kelly’s face, on top of the collar covering her mouth. She pulled it very tight, then started knotting it at the back of Kelly’s head.

“Mmf!” Kelly protested, while tugging at the scarf, indicating that it was too tight. She couldn’t even speak like that.

“It’ll stay like that,” Rose said sternly, “ that’ll teach you not to ‘forget’ it again. Here, I brought your mittens too.”

A bit dejected, Kelly allowed Rose to put her hands into the thick red mittens. It really wasn’t that cold, she thought. The weather forecast had predicted a temperature of 9°C, cloudy but dry all afternoon. There really was no need to be wrapped up like that. But to Rose that clearly didn’t matter. Although she almost never wore a hood herself, she insisted that Kelly be wrapped up warmly all winter.

Kelly thought back to how this had begun. She had moved in with Rose last year. Rose was a high school friend of her, although they hadn’t been in touch very much afterwards. At some point Rose’s previous housemate moved out at the same time Kelly was looking for a place, and they were both happy to get this arrangement.

She had discovered the white down jacket, which she was wearing now, almost exactly a year ago, in December. It was somewhat hidden in the back of a cupboard. She was a bit surprised to see such a nice jacket that Rose apparently never wore, and she had asked Rose about it. Rose had said that, although she thought it looked really nice, she just didn’t like wearing it. “Try it on,” she had said, “perhaps it’s something for you.”

That was how it started. Soon she was wearing the white jacket every day. And then Rose began obsessing over her clothes, insisting that she wear her hood all the time.

Kelly remembered the first time Rose had made her wear her hood. They had been shopping together, and Kelly had made a remark about the cold. “Are you cold? You should put your hood up,” Rose had said immediately. Kelly had refused, saying she would be fine. But Rose stopped her. “I’ll do it for you then,” she’d said, and she had put Kelly’s hood up and tied it. Looking back on it, that had been the decision point, Kelly reflected. She could have taken the hood off then. But she had said nothing, and kept the hood up. From that point on, Rose had been telling her to put her hood up every time she went outside. And, as she hadn’t argued it about the first time, she found it increasingly harder to object every next time, and simply did what Rose told her.

Only once Kelly had objected. They’d had a drink with some friends, and the moment they stepped outside, Rose had said: “Kelly, put your hood up.” “No, I don’t need it,” she had replied, but Rose had just brushed that aside, as though she had said something silly. “Yes you do, put your hood up,” Rose had said, and then to their friends: “Kelly is cold all the time, and she’s being stubborn about wearing her hood.” Turning back towards Kelly, who still hadn’t put her hood up, she had said: “Well, what about it? Are you going to do it or should I do it for you?” Kelly had been a bit ashamed about the scene in front of their friends, and she had put her hood up to end it. That was the last of her resistance. From then on she had simply obeyed Rose, and it came naturally to her.

And now she was stuck with it, Kelly mused while they stepped out of the front door. This was where it had gotten her: wrapped up like an Eskimo even when the weather was unseasonably mild.

To Kelly’s surprise, Rose went to the car and unlocked it. Why did she have to dress like this if they were going by car? Kelly didn’t know where they were going, Rose had said it was “a surprise”. She went to the passenger’s side and got in the car as well. She tugged at the scarf that was tied tightly over her mouth.

“Leave that alone,” Rose said sharply. “Just put your hands in your lap and be a good girl.”

Now Rose was going a bit far, Kelly thought. She didn’t have to tell her everything she could and couldn’t do. She considered ignoring Rose and taking off the scarf anyway, but in the end she simply couldn’t get herself to directly oppose Rose’s order. And since she couldn’t argue with the scarf tied over her face, she just put her mittened hands in her lap as Rose had told her to do.

Half an hour later they arrived at a large house outside the town. Rose rang at the door. There was a plate attached next to the door, but before Kelly could look what was written on it, Rose had grabbed her arm and pulled her away. The door was opened by a middle-aged woman with a friendly smile.

"Hi, we're here to collect our order," Rose said.

"Yes, of course, the special order. Please, come in."

They went into a hallway and Kelly pulled at the scarf that was still covering her lower face and forcing her tied hood to stay up. She tried to unknot it, but the knot was behind her and turned out to be multiple very tight knots, which she didn’t manage to undo right away.

"I suppose it's meant for this young lady," the woman said. "Well, I'll go fetch it, if you'd wait here for a moment. Please make yourself comfortable." She gestured at a sofa that stood next to the wall, then she went through a door.

Rose took off her jacket and sat down, while Kelly had taken off her mittens but was still struggling with the knot in the scarf. “Mmf! Mmf!” she grunted, trying to attract Rose’s attention. Rose looked up at her, looking mildly interested in her friend's attempts. Then she stood up and finally helped Kelly out of her scarf and jacket.

"Rose, what's going on? Where are we? Who is this woman? Why are we here?"

Rose smiled. "We are at miss Elwin's place, and she's a seamstress. I made an order a while ago and we're here to collect it. Just in time for your birthday!"

At this point miss Elwin returned, and she was carrying a huge black down coat.

"Here it is, the special order. Exactly according to the measurements you provided. Let's try it on straight away, shall we?"

Too surprised to think about much at all, Kelly went to the woman, who stepped behind her, took one arm and carefully started pulling the sleeve over it. There was something odd about the way she did this - her arm was kept more behind her during this than should be needed, so she didn't actually see the coat. But before Kelly realized something was wrong, miss Elwin had already started on the other arm, and she was pulling the coat over Kelly's shoulders by the time Kelly understood that her arms weren't in normal sleeves at all. They were in a sort of internal sleeves at the sides of the coat, kept to her sides in tight pockets.

Now miss Elwin started zipping up the coat and a second thing became clear. The coat was much tighter than normal. It wasn't really clear from the outside, because of how extremely bulky the thick down coat was, but as soon as the zipper started closing from her knees upwards, she could feel its pressure on her upper legs. As the zipper was closed further, her arms were pressed tighter to her sides, keeping them straight in their sleeves. And the coat was zipped up further still, ending in a very high, puffy collar that went straight up to her nose and stretched tightly over her mouth.

"I can't move my armf in thiff!" Kelly complained, with some difficulty through the thick down barrier pressing on her lips.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot the belt," miss Elwin said. She started tightening a wide belt just above Kelly's waist. The belt was on the outside of the coat, right over her wrists, which meant her hands were now really pressed against her body. She felt like she was being tied up!

"Pleafe, tha'ff too tighf," Kelly begged.

"Nonsense, it's just right," Rose said. "You look beautiful like this, Kelly. Walk around a bit, so you get used to it."

Kelly made some tentative steps back and forth. Her knees were kept almost together, restricting her steps, but she could get around. However it was very strange to walk with her arms rigidly pressed against her sides.

"See, it's going really well, and it looks fantastic," Rose commented. Kelly had her doubts about that, but Rose immediately went on: "Let's put her hood up now. Kelly will be wearing the hood all the time," she explained to miss Elwin.

"Very sensible," the older woman commented. "That's what it's there for after all." She lifted the hood from Kelly's back over her head. It had two large flaps to cover the lower half of her face, on top of the collar. This were connected with press buttons. But what a hood it was! Kelly had never seen anything like it. With the flaps fastened, the opening was extremely small, leaving just enough space for her eyes and the bridge of her nose, even without tying the hood. The hood was so thick that the edge was quite far in front of her face, so she had to look through a tunnel. And this was the only part of the hood she could see. If she'd had a mirror, or if her hands would have been free to feel the top of her hood, she would have noticed that she seemed almost 10 cm bigger with the hood up. The upper part of the hood was perfectly round and smooth, like a shiny black bowling ball. But despite how big the hood was, the down-filled nylon pressed on her head at all sides.

"I'm glad you'll be wearing the hood so often, dear," miss Elvin said, but her voice seemed to come from far away now. "I put a lot of work in it. I had to layer several down chambers on top of each other to get to the required thickness. But it's worth the effort."

Kelly slowly turned around, trying to locate Rose in her small line of sight. She peered at her desperately, silently begging her to reconsider. Surely she couldn't be wearing this coat in public! It all felt so unreal. But any effect her silent appeal might have had was mostly lost because her eyes were hardly even visible in the deep hood.

Rose and miss Elwin talked for a few more minutes, but most of it was lost on Kelly, who was now struggling against the coat, trying to free her arms. It was completely hopeless though. With the narrow sleeves sewn into the inside of the tightly fitting coat, and her hands pinned to her hips, she barely move her arms at all. The only difference it made was that she built up heat under the coat. And with both the collar and the belt stretching the coat tightly against her body, and no other openings, there was no way for the heat to escape. Her head, too, was getting very hot in the abnormally thick hood, and soon she could feel sweat dripping down the side of her nose. But of course she couldn't even wipe it away.

Meanwhile, Rose had said goodbye to miss Elwin, and she guided Kelly towards the door. With an arm around her shoulders, she lead Kelly towards the car and opened the door for her. Kelly tried to step in, but she was brought up short by the hem of the coat, which was too tight around her knees. Rose turned her around, so that Kelly's back faced the car, then pushed her down. Kelly let out a muffled scream, as she suddenly lost her balance and fell backwards, which was scary with her arms tied up, but she landed safely in the car seat. Rose helped her put her legs inside the car with a quarter-turn to the left. Then she fastened Kelly's seat belt and closed the door.

"So, are you happy with your birthday present?" Rose asked when she sat next to Kelly.

"I... yeff, buf... oo I weally aff oo weaw diff aww the fime?"

"You'll have to try and speak a bit louder and articulate clearly, Kelly, so you get through the collar and the flaps of the hood. And yes, you'll have to wear the coat all the time. It's a bit too expensive to leave it hanging in the closet. But you look really nice in it. And it will keep you warm."

"Can oo take the hood off pleafe?" Kelly asked, speaking slowly and carefully and raising her voice to make herself understood.

"Better if you keep it up for now," Rose judged. "It's quite a bit thicker than a normal hood, so it will take some getting used to. The sooner you're used to it, the more comfortable you'll be."

With that she started the engine, and they set off. Kelly was silent during the drive. Speaking was too hard, and it was awkward that she couldn't look at Rose. All she could do was sit straight up in her seat and look through her small tunnel, seeing only what was directly in front. After a while she noticed that they were in the city center, and Rose headed towards a parking lot. Kelly sighed inwardly. She'd hoped they were going home now, so she could get out of the coat, but apparently Rose had other plans.

"Where awe we going?" she asked, still having trouble speaking through the layers of down over her mouth.

"You'll see. We're not done yet for today," Rose replied cryptically.

Rose got out, went to Kelly's side of the car, and helped her out of it.

"I've been thinking about the best way to walk," Rose said. "If you walk next to me, you'll probably bump into me all the time, because you can't see me. And I can't hold your hand or your arm. So I think it will be easiest if I just walk ahead, and you follow me. This way you also won't bump into other people as much, because I'll have 'cleared the path', so to speak. If we have to cross a road I'll wait for you and put an arm around you, because it wouldn't be safe for you to cross on your own. Okay?"

"Um, yeff..." Kelly mumbled, too bewildered to argue. Already she was painfully aware of how outrageous she must look in this coat.

Without further ado, Rose set off at a brisk pace. Kelly, who was still learning her limitations, struggled to keep up. With quick short steps she tried to make up for the longer strides Rose could take. The coat restricted her more than she had thought. It turned out that trying to follow Rose through the pedestrian zone wasn't the same as taking a few short steps at miss Elwin's. Soon she was panting in the heavy down layer over her face and sweating more than ever. She tried to stay close to Rose, but sometimes her knee caught inside her coat as he tried to take a larger step, and then she had to stop and catch her balance. When the distance got larger, she desperately focussed on keeping Rose in sight. She had no eye for other people, who just stared at her in confusion when they were brushed aside by what appeared to be a walking sleeping bag.

Finally they reached their destination, a large outdoor store. Rose waited briefly for Kelly to catch up, then headed inside. Kelly had no choice but to follow her through the shop. She really wanted to get out of her hood now. Not only was the heat generated by her fast walk more unbearable inside the warm store, it was also embarrassing to wear that enormous hood indoors. But she could only ask Rose after following her through the entire shop.

"Wofe, can oo fake off my hood now?" she asked, exhausted and breathless.

"I told you, you'll really need to articulate a bit better when you're wearing that hood, Kelly. Come on, try again."

Kelly had to take a few deep breaths - in so far as that was possible - before she could do this. Meanwhile, the sweat was pouring down her face.

"Rose, can you take off my hood?" she repeated as loud and clear as she could.

"And the magic word?" Rose insisted.

"Pleafe!" Kelly exclaimed desperately.

Rose smiled. "Of course." She opened the flaps and pushed Kelly's hood down. She felt Kelly's hair, which was completely wet.

"See, I told you this hood would keep you warm," she said proudly.

"Yef, it'f vewy warm," Kelly said quietly. Way too warm, she thought, but at the moment she was just glad to be out of it, and feel some relatively cool air on her hair and forehead. Unfortunately the collar was still closed, covering everything up to her nose and ears, too tight to allow air to reach the lower half of her face and sticky with sweat.

"Now we need just one more piece to complete your outfit," Rose said. "A nice pair of Moonboots. I'd pick the shiny white ones, Kelly. They'll contrast beautifully with the black coat."

"Moonbooff? Why do I need thofe?"

"As I said, they'll match your coat perfectly. Your normal shoes sticking out of the bottom of this nice thick coat, that just doesn't look so nice. With the Moonboots under this coat, you'll look fantastic!"

"Buf... I can'f wear Moonbooff all the fime..."

"Sure you can. If I say so. Now stop arguing and sit down."

Moments later Rose had taken off Kelly's shoes and replaced them with the Moonboots. They were white vinyl with black letters.

"They fit perfectly," Rose announced. "Oh, and I have another idea. Come."

With some difficulty, Rose managed to stand up again and shuffled after Rose. The Moonboots further hindered her steps in combination with her shortened stride, as she now had to watch out she didn't trip over her own large boots. At least with the hood down she could easily locate Rose now.

By the time Kelly reached her, Rose had selected a bunch of balaclavas. "This should help to soak up your sweat," she explained. "I'll buy seven of them, because you'll probably need a new one every day."

They went to the counter, where Rose helped Kelly out of the Moonboots so she could pay them. Then Kelly sat down again and Rose took one of the Moonboots.

"No," Kelly protested, pulling her foot away and trying to speak as clearly as possible, "it's really quite warm outside, Rose. I can't go out in Moonbooff in this weaffer."

"Kelly, I'll decide about that," Rose said sternly. "And I say you're going to wear Moonboots every day during the winter, starting now. They're very nice together with your new coat, which you'll also be wearing every day. In fact I'll throw your old shoes in the first garbage bin I see. You won't need them anymore. Now stop being silly and give me your foot. Or I'll just leave you here."

Intimidated by Rose's decisiveness, Kelly stuck out her foot and allowed Rose to put the Moonboots on. Then Rose briefly opened Kelly's large down collar and pulled one of the balaclavas over her head. The opening left her eyes and nose free but covered her mouth. Then Rose put Kelly's hood up. Her head was once again enveloped in its warm cocoon and she was back to looking through a narrow tunnel.

They left the store and Kelly once again hurried after Rose, dressed in the enormous black coat and white Moonboots.