Page 75 of Darn Knit All

“We’re doing what one?”

“Sleeping Beauty.”

I wracked my brains trying to remember which was which. “With the wicked stepmother?”

“I think the majority of them have wicked stepmothers.”

I chuckled. “Is that a reference to our conversation last night?”

She offered me a wide-eyed look that failed in any way to look innocent.

“Gotcha.” I thought about the many versions of fairy tales I had read over the years. “What if we did something different?”

Mai paused in her collection. “Like what?”

A concept began to take shape—something bold and a little bit left field. “Medusa.”

“Medusa?” she repeated.

“Yeah.” I juggled the bolts, suddenly overcome with enthusiasm for my idea. “She’s beautiful before her curse, but it’s her rage that made her a legend.”

“You know the horror of her story, right?” Mai asked, looking skeptical.

“Yep. Men are trash and the woman just wanted to be left alone. She turned guys to stone for being men. Going out on a limb, gonna say she was the first woman to choose bear over man.”

Mai snorted. “Nah, that’d be Eve. Girl would have chosen a bear every time. Who do you think she was picking the apple for?”

I wiggled in place, practically vibrating with enthusiasm. “Coming back to the topic, her head was cut off, Mai. But what if this whole time she was just sleeping until we could bring her back to exact her final revenge? In dress form,” I hurried to add. “You know, ’cause that’s important.”

Mai tapped one hand against her leg as she stared off into the distance. I could see the cogs in her mind turning over, thinking it through, creating and discarding ideas and designs.

“I… I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I really like it.” She plucked the bolts of fabric from my arms, discarding them in an empty storage bin. “We need something that can start as one thing, then transform into another. We want her to be rising from her slumber—she is the snake in the garden of Eden, bringing Eve knowledge. She is the jezebel, Delilah, Lilith, and Maleficent. She is all the women who have been wronged.” She laughed, shaking her head. “Theo, I am so into this idea. Thank you!”

She wrapped herself around me. She had aimed for my cheek but at the last moment I turned my head, catching her lips by accident.

“Shit, sorry.”

She pulled back, breathless and flushed, her eyes bright. We stared at each other, then she shook her head.

“Right, well.” She cleared her throat. “We should get to work.”

Mai’s concept was daring, bold, and incredibly beautiful. She’d found a marbled silk that shimmered under the light. At first glance when pulled tight against the mannequin it looked like stone, but when loosened it became a shimmering dance of light.

We worked through the morning and into the long afternoon, pinning and folding, cutting and pressing, until a dress began to take shape.

Two hours before the end of the day, Erike began to make his rounds.

My lips curled, wanting to growl at him to go away as he stood over Mai, staring at her design.

“It’s far from unique,” he said dismissively. “A changing dress? Someone attempts it every year.”

“But it’s not just a dress,” Mai protested weakly. “It’s also about the story, which really speaks to?—”

“Yes, yes, I know.” Erike reached for Mai’s pen, plucking it from her fingers to quickly sketch on the pad. “But here is your problem. There’s rush in this dress, frantic stress.” He handed her back the pen. “Breathe and try again.”

Mai nodded mutely, watching him with big eyes as he left.

“Ignore him,” I told her, wincing as I pricked myself once again. “He’s a dick.”

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