A Cinderella story

 On a beautiful day in early October, Marina Jones met her new neighbours for the first time. The four young women seemed nice and pleasant to Marina. When she had opened the door, the tall woman with the curly brown hair - Veronica - had been in front, and she had made the introductions. Clearly the leader of the group, a woman who knew what she wanted and was used to getting it, was Marina's first impression. She wore simple, well-fitting jeans and a white shirt. Next to her was Sally, of average height, blonde and stunningly beautiful, dressed in a pale red summer dress with a matching silk scarf draped carefully around her neck. Then she introduced Susan - dark hair, glasses, dressed in dark pants and a round-neck grey-and-black sweater. And finally Yasmin, who they usually called Mini, the shortest girl of the group, standing at the back in a very thick looking yellow down jacket with the hood up and tied around her face.

Marina invited them in, and offered a refreshment. The women sat down - Veronica on a chair, the three others on the sofa. Yasmin had untied her hood and taken it off, but remained in the thick jacket, which looked even bulkier while she sat down. She had short light brown hair and looked a bit flustered. Meanwhile Marina learned that the girls had met in uni, and after finishing their studies they had decided to hire a house together, since they were all still single. Veronica and Susan did most of the talking, with Sally occasionally making herself heard, but quiet "Mini" in her down jacket just sat there and sipped from her hot chocolate. Marina Jones, who was a retired teacher, found this group of friends quite intriguing.

When they left, Marina noticed another peculiar thing. The girls stood up and Veronica was saying goodbye, but meanwhile she saw how Susan immediately grabbed the hood of Yasmin's jacket and pulled it over her head again. Then she took the drawstrings and tightened them, not simply pulling but roughly yanking them tight before knotting them.

During the next few days, Marina saw how the girls settled into their new place. She didn't want to be that typical old woman spying on her neighbours (she was 64 and in perfect health, but admittedly a bit lonely at times ever since her husband had died), she found them quite interesting to watch. In particular that curious, silent girl Yasmin. Every time Marina spotted Yasmin outside, she was dressed in either the yellow down jacket she had worn on that first visit, or an orange down jacket that looked just as thick. And always with the hood up and firmly tied, despite the pleasant autumn weather. Did she have some kind of illness? And there were other things Marina noticed. It seemed like it was always Yasmin doing the grocery shopping, always alone. It was also Yasmin raking the fallen leaves or putting out the garbage. And however briefly she had to go outside - always with her head buried deep inside the thick hood.

One evening, several months later, Marina saw a taxi arrive at the neighbour's house. After a moment Veronica, Susan and Sally emerged from the house, all clearly dressed for a fancy night out. There was no sign of Yasmin.

On a whim, she decided to pay her remaining neighbour a visit. She walked the short distance to the their front door and rang the doorbell. Nothing happened. She rang again, longer now. She knew Yasmin had to be inside, why didn't she answer the door? She rang a third time and finally the door was opened, but only slightly, so she could not see anything inside.
"Yasmin?" she asked, "it's Marina Jones, your neighbour."
"What is it?" The girl's voice was shy.
"Can I come inside? It's cold out here."
Silence.
"Yasmin? Can I come in?"
"Okay." The door was opened further, revealing Yasmin. She was dressed in a red heavy one-piece down suit. The hood left an opening just big enough for her face; everything else was covered as the suit had attached mittens and socks with the same thick filling as the rest of it.

Marina followed the red fluffy person inside, and meanwhile she noticed that the suit zipped up the back.
"Isn't that quite warm to wear indoors?" she asked.
"Yes."
"So why don't you take it off?"
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because they've tied the zipper at the end, so I can't open it."
"So they left you stuck in this suit, while they went to party? Why?"
"I said I wanted to go too," Yasmin said, sounding genuinely ashamed for having suggested such a thing.
"Well that's perfectly normal. Why wouldn't you be allowed to go?"
"They said I could go if I wanted. So I was really happy. Then they all got dressed up and I asked what I could wear, because I don't have nice dresses. Veronica told me they had a beautiful red dress for me. I had to strip to my underwear and then go to my room. I did and then I found this on my bed. They all burst out laughing at my reaction. And then they put me in the suit and tied the zipper at the end so I couldn't get out. Then Veronica asked if I still wanted to come with them."

Marina was shocked at the cruelty of the other girls. "I could help you out of the suit," she offered. "And then you could even go to the party."
"I have nothing to wear though. And no way to get there."
"I can fix both of those. I still have some clothes from my daughter. You're about the same size as her, I think they should fit you fine. I'm sure you'll find something you like. And I have a car. I'll take you there."

And so Marina helped to transform Yasmin into a beautiful young lady. She brushed her hair, helped her select a dress, found fitting high-heeled shoes and applied a bit of make-up. Then she brought the girl to the city.
"I'll come back to pick you up at midnight, okay?"
"That's great. Thank you so much."
"Enjoy yourself."

---

Yasmin emerged from the building, clearly in a hurry. She seemed to stumble along as she headed toward Marina's car.
"Hurry, let's go please, quick," she begged as she got into the car.
Marina immediately started the engine. "What's the problem?"
"They're leaving. Veronica, Susan and Sally. They're going home, I saw them. We need to get there before them, or I'll be in a big trouble."
"Don't worry. We'll make it, you'll see." Marina sped up. It was snowing by then, but that was fine. She was confident she could get them home quickly and safely, and it would slow down the other girls.

"Did you have a good time?" she asked Yasmin when she'd caught her breath.
"Yes, it was great, I - oh! I'm so sorry! I lost one of the shoes when I left!"
"Don't worry about that, it's only a shoe. Tell me about the party."
"There was this really nice guy - Jamie. I danced with him and we talked and, well, I liked him a lot."
"That's great. Did you get his phone number?"
"No, but I told him where I live, and he said he'd come visit me soon."

Marina brought Yasmin home and helped her back in the down suit, tying the zipper like before. Then she went back to her own house with the clothes Yasmin had worn, well in time before the taxi with the others arrived. She was happy and pleased with herself. It's like a fairytale, she thought. She hoped that Jamie would show up and take Yasmin away from those wretched women she lived with.

Not every tale has a happy end though.

---

Veronica opened the hood of the sleeping bag and the one of the down suit below, revealing a bit of Yasmin's sweaty face.
"Had a good night?" she asked sarcastically.
"No," Yasmin whispered. "Please let me out. It's so warm." She tried to move, but the thick down-filled bag had been tied securely to the bed, and the ropes around it had kept her immobile all night.
"But maybe your memory is a bit better than it was last night now. So I'll ask again: did you have any visitors yesterday?"
"Yes, our neighbour came over."
Veronica smiled. A nice and uncomfortable night did wonders to help the truth. Of course the neighbour had come over - they had seen the fresh footprints in the snow.
"Why?" she asked.
"She wanted to borrow some milk," Yasmin said.
Veronica's smile disappeared abruptly. Did the girl think she was stupid? It had only started snowing when they left the party at midnight. No way that old woman had come to borrow milk at that time. And besides, there must be a reason Yasmin hadn't wanted to tell that woman was here. There was more to this.
"I think we'll have to give you the rest of the day to think about it some more," she said as she started closing the suit's hood again.
"Shall I get a heavy blanket so she doesn't get cold meanwhile?" Sally suggested.
"No, please, no!" Yasmin thrashed around her enclosed head as much as she could. "I'll tell everything! Really!"
"Everything? No more lies, nothing left out?"
"Yes! Please, open it again!"
Veronica considered for a long moment, then she opened the down suit's hood again. "Last chance, Mini," she said. "You'll tell everything now or I swear you'll be in this the rest of the day and the next night."

---

When Jamie came over later that day, Susan answered the door.
"Hello, handsome," she said, leaning against the doorframe in a lazy, gracious pose.
"Hi, I'm here for Yasmin."
"Yasmin? We have no Yasmin here. It's just Veronica and Sally and me."
"Really? But... I met her last night and she gave me this address. I wanted to bring back her shoe, she lost it last night."
"She must have tiny feet," Susan said, examining the shoe. "I'm sure it wouldn't fit me, nor Veronica or Sally."
Jamie looked crushed. "Then I must have gotten the address wrong. If there's nobody else here..."
"Well do come in then, and you'll see there's nobody else here."
"No, I mean, I believe you of course, I didn't mean..."
"Don't worry, come in and meet the others, and have a look around."

"Sorry to disappoint you, it's just the three of us here," Veronica said after Susan had explained the situation. "And Mini of course."
"Mini?" Jamie asked.
"Our mannequin. We like to put our excess clothes on it. We call it Mini. See." Veronica opened a wall-high cupboard, and Jamie saw an expedition-quality down suit. The hood had been tied shut completely, and judging by how thick and tight everything was, there must be many more layers under the suit. Several straps were needed to hold the whole thing up apparently. On the mannequin's hands were huge mittens and its feet were in oversized Moonboots.
"Well, Mini won't get cold," he said.
"No. But I'm afraid she's not the one you're looking for either," Veronica said, pointing at the enormous Moonboots. "Those feet wouldn't fit that small shoe of yours either."
She closed the cupboard and locked it, leaving the mannequin in its darkness.