Time to Go

The bell on the shop door rang as Caryn pinned down a pattern piece. She looked up to see a harried couple rush into her sewing shop. They were young, in their mid-twenties. The man was tall and gangly with a mop of red hair sticking out from under a black bowler hat. The woman was shorter. And she was a bit rotund. She was cute though. Her blonde hair twisted up in tiny braids around her head. The braids, entwined with white ribbon and silver beads, sparkled in the morning sunshine.

“Can I help you?” Caryn asked.

“We hope so!” the young woman gushed. “We have been all over the city and you are the only one left that might help us!”

The man was holding a large plastic suit bag over his arm and he held it out. “We need this fixed before midnight.”

His voice was more mellow and lower than the woman’s. But Caryn could tell he was nervous too. Caryn took the bag and laid it across her cutting table and unzipped it. She blinked as the suit winked and sparkled at her. The suit was covered with tiny clear rhinestones and silver sequins. The thought came to her how much it was like Liberace’s suits.

“This looks like a Liberace suit.” She murmured.

The couple looked dumbfounded. Oh, she knew they were too young to remember Liberace. But she remembered. She and her husband Raul had listened to him every night as they rested after a long day’s work in the shop. She stopped listening about two years ago after Raul had passed away. There were too many memories that came to her when she heard that piano play. Now the record player sat in the corner of the shop gathering dust with all the records she and Raul had collected.

Caryn lifted the suit out. It seemed to be all intact. “So, tell me what is wrong with the suit?” she asked as she turned it over. To her trained eye not a rhinestone or sequin was out of place.

“It won’t light up!” the woman said.

Caryn looked up in surprise. The suit lit up! Another Liberace specialty. She remembered one of Liberace’s concerts and at one point the lights had dimmed. The crowd had started booing thinking the electricity had gone out. At that moment, Liberace walked on stage in a lit up, sparkling rhinestone suit. The crowd went wild! That concert in 1959 was memorable for Caryn. That was also the night that Raul proposed. Liberace's last stage performance would be twenty-seven years later their twenty seventh anniversary. They spent it watching Liberace perform for the last time on stage.

She rubbed her hand over the smooth rhinestones. Someone once asked her why she and Raul liked Liberace and his flamboyancy. It wasn’t the flamboyancy as much as his art of playing the piano. They both loved listening to him play the piano. Raul was a piano player too, but he had never followed his dream like Liberace had. She had to admit that they did look forward to each new outfit Liberace came out with. She and Raul were both costume designers from New York.

“We need it to light up at midnight. We are getting married and it is something we have planned since the day I proposed almost 3 years ago!” the man said.

Caryn didn’t know what to say. She had worked with rhinestones and sequins all her life but had never worked with an electric suit. Most of her designs were in the Broadway plays here in New York. She and Raul had never branched out. They were content to stay and work in New York. They never upgraded the modest little shop she had inherited from her parents. It hadn’t change much from when her parents first acquired it. Except for new machines and tools. She came here in 1946 with her parents. She was six years old. They were one of the lucky ones that were able to open a shop and keep it open. Her dad had been a shoemaker and her mom a seamstress. It had been a struggle, but they had made it. The shop had been here in Midtown Manhattan for 74 years. It still had the same name. The Sew Shop. It wasn’t much but a workroom and a two-bedroom apartment attached on the back. In later years, Caryn’s father had gone out of the shoe making business due to outlet retailers taking over. But the sewing business kept them going and later Broadway and its costumes had helped.

“This is quite a costume. Where did you get it?” Caryn asked. “By the way my name is Caryn McHaile. I am the owner of this shop.”

The woman and man both smiled. “Nice to meet you. I am Jenny Kilmore, and this is my fiancé James Panacear. We’re from Wisconsin. We’ve been planning our wedding now for 3 years. We’ve always wanted to come to New York City and get married when the ball dropped. But we had so many stipulations. One was that James have his own light up rhinestone/sequined suit. We’re both costume designers for a small theater in Wisconsin. It took almost 3 years to get his suit finished. My dress was a breeze compared to his suit. I opted for pearls and lace. And no lights!” she giggled at James.

James smiled back. Then he turned back to Caryn. “Truth is, you surprised us when you mentioned Liberace’s suits. We are big fans of Liberace. Thus, the light up, sparkling, sequined suit. We met at a showing of 'Behind the Candelabra ' in our hometown in 2014. We were both so excited because Liberace is from Wisconsin. We hit it off and 3 years later I proposed.”

“On the stage of our community theatre, after a weeklong run of Beauty and the Beast!” Jenny interrupted. “I couldn’t wait to say yes!”

“It took me longer than expected to finish the suit. But Jenny and I both knew we didn’t want to give up on our dream wedding. We thought we had it fixed but when I opened the suit bag and tried it on this morning , nothing!”

Caryn looked at the couple before her. They reminded her of Raul and her when they were first married. Stars in their eyes and hopes and dreams that reached to the top of the Empire State Building. She and Raul had achieved their dreams of being costume designers. They had a good life. There was one thing they never achieved though. Having children. They had found out that children would never be a possibility a few years after they married. That was after many doctor visits and counseling. It was disappointing but they went on with life. Along with designing costumes, they helped with children’s theatre programs. They helped to make ill children’s dreams come true. They had a long and fulfilling life together. She and Raul had their share of good luck when it came to costume designing. They had sewn costumes for The Lion King, Wicked, The Wizard of Oz, and many others. They weren’t the designers in the spotlight per se. But it had paid well enough for them to enjoy life in the Big Apple and even take a few vacations now and then. But now she felt it was time. Caryn was getting tired. At 80 years old she had a hard time threading the sewing machine. Last week she was lucky enough to catch her own mistake on a garment before it went to the theatre. Time for the final curtain call as they said on Broadway. She wished someone would want the shop for what it was and continue the tradition.

“This shop is amazing!” Jenny enthused as she ran her hand over the silk fabrics that lay folded on the bench. “Don’t you wish we had a shop like this Jimmy?” she looked at her fiancé with beseeching eyes.

“I wish we could, sweetie. It has everything in it we dreamed about.” James said. “There is only one problem. With the baby coming we would need an apartment and that would cost an arm and a leg.” He walked over to Jenny and pulled her close rubbing her round belly. “Someday honey we’ll make it all the way to the Big Apple.”

Caryn was silent as she gazed at the suit and listened to the young couple exclaim over the things in the shop. They had a child on the way. That is why the young woman was so round. That is the reason why they now needed to get married. A thought popped into her mind. Her friend Thomas might know how to fix this. He was an electrician with a shop three blocks away. The only problem was that she had to walk there. He never answered his phone or checked it until the evening and that would be too late. She would have to close shop. Or not, she thought as she gazed at the excited couple roaming around the shop. She had another idea. She would leave them in charge of the shop for ten minutes while she ran the suit down for Thomas to look at.

She walked over to the couple. “ I have to be honest and tell you I have never worked with an electric suit before, so I am not going to be able to help you.” They tried not to act disappointed.

 “But…” she said. They both looked at her with hope. “I do have an electrician friend down the block that might have a go at it. I will have to take it to him, if you two don’t mind watching the shop for me a bit.”

James and Jenny both looked stunned. “You would do that for strangers!” James stuttered. Jenny looked like she was about to cry.

“Thank you so much. You don’t know how much this means to us.” James pulled her close and patted her on the back. He looked over her head at Caryn. “It’s been a tough journey for us. Even if you can’t get the suit fixed Jenny and I will still get married. There is nothing going to stop me from taking Jenny as my wife. I want to spend the rest of my life with her and my child or children.” He smiled down at Jenny and wiped a tear off her cheek. Then he looked at Caryn. “You don’t have to go to all the trouble.”

“I don’t mind a bit. You two remind me of me and my husband when we first got married. Watching you two has brought back many memories and made this old woman happy. Now if you don’t mind, I am going to take a walk and see if this is fixable.” She held the suit in the air and turned toward the door. Remembering something , she turned back. “Jenny if you get tired please rest.” She pointed at a door behind the counter. There is a two-bedroom apartment in the back of this shop. Make yourself at home.” She smiled and waved and scooted out the door, leaving the young couple stunned and staring after her.

Now here she was four hours later rushing back toward her shop. It had taken longer than ten minutes, but it was worth it. Thomas was busy when she first got there but when he saw her, he dropped everything to help her. Thomas was Raul’s best friend and became hers too after she and Raul married. He grinned when she told him the story of the young couple, and then began checking out the suit. He soon found the problem and told her it was an easy fix. The only problem was that he would have to go to the hardware store first. Caryn called her shop and told them the suit was fixable. It would take a bit longer than ten minutes. She ended up watching Thomas’s shop while they watched hers.

 Caryn scurried down the sidewalk as fast as the crowd would allow her to. The crowd was larger than usual since tonight was New Year’s Eve. Already the barriers were set up and the policemen had increased with the size of the crowd. Revelers had their 2020 hats and glasses on and were tooting horns. For Pete’s sake it was only one in the afternoon. There was still eleven hours to go before the clock struck midnight. She winced as a loud horn blared in her right ear. It would take at least an hour to get back to her shop. Without warning a wave of dizziness hit Caryn. She stumbled and bumped into a man walking by her.  

“Are you okay?” the man asked as he steadied her. Then he looked at her, adjusting his glasses. “Caryn? Is that you?” 

Caryn got her balance and looked up at the tall man who had stopped her from falling. It was another old friend of hers and Raul’s. Jacob Walinsky had known them for fifty plus years. He was their lawyer too. He was helping her draw up a will even though she had no idea who she would give anything to. She wished she and Raul could have had children. Out of the blue an idea popped into her mind. She took a deep breath and pulled Jacob over to a street bench. She began explaining everything about the day and her idea. Her lawyer never blinked once. He didn’t seem one wit surprised with what she had to tell him. He told her he would have the paperwork to her within the hour. Caryn thanked her old friend and hugged him. For some strange reason she knew that would be the last time she would ever see her old friend.

Caryn finally stopped in front of her shop. She looked at the sign. It was a bit worn. It needed some of paint. The front window needed a good cleaning. The display needed updated. She was sure that would all get done. She watched Jenny and James through the window as they talked with one of her customers. They were laughing and seemed to be making the customer happy. She backed up a bit when the customer came out of the shop. The customer spied her and walked over to Caryn.

“What are you up to now, my darling Caryn?” the woman whispered. She was an actress on Broadway and had carried quite a few lead parts. She always came to Caryn for her costume. They had become the best of friends over the years. Mami had aged well, Caryn thought. Mami was still beautiful enough to command an audience.

“What do you think of that couple in there?” Caryn pulled Mami into the alley by her shop.

“They are nice, and they do know their costumes. I thought I would have to explain everything to them about my costume, but they knew what I wanted right away. No offense, Caryn but we changed your ideas up a bit.”

“No offense taken, dear friend.” Caryn smiled. That was exactly what she wanted to hear.

“Are you thinking of hiring them Caryn? Because if you do, I will give them a thumbs up.” Mami pointed her polished thumbnail in the air.

“Something like that!” Caryn laughed. “Thank you Mami. You have been a good friend!” Caryn hugged Mami.

“You have too Caryn. Hey, do you want to watch the ball drop at my place tonight? I’m having a small get together.” Mami hugged Caryn back.

“Thanks for the invite old friend. I am a bit tired. I think I’ll call it a night.” Caryn suddenly felt tired.

“Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve .” Mami grinned.

Caryn waved at her old friend. She opened the door of the shop and the sound of piano came floating out. Caryn’s heart skipped a beat. Liberace!

“I hope you don’t mind that we dusted off the record player and records.” Jenny said.

“Not one bit my dear!” Caryn grinned. She held up the suit. It lit up like the New Year’s Ball at midnight.

Jenny and James cried out joyfully.

“Now you two can get married.” Caryn said as she zipped the bag and handed it to James.

“What do we owe you?” James asked.

“Not a thing!” Caryn said. “Go. Get married and have a wonderful life.”

They hugged her and ran out the door. Caryn smiled and locked the door and turned the sign to closed. She sighed happily as she put another record on.

One hour before midnight. They waited anxiously for their big moment. Suddenly, a man in a black suit came up to them and handed them an envelope. It was addressed to James and Jenny Panacear. The only name in the return address was Caryn McHiale. James opened the envelope and pulled out a legal looking document. He and Jenny looked at it together. They stared at it in silence and then they shouted with joy. It was like a dream come true.

Caryn changed into her pajamas and drank a warm cup of tea. She had signed papers earlier. The shop and everything concerned now belonged to James and Jenny. Raul would have approved of them. She sat and watched the celebration on tv, but soon her eyes grew tired and she felt herself falling asleep.

She heard a piano playing. She opened her eyes. It was Liberace. No… it was Raul. Raul sat at the piano in the most dazzling rhinestone suit. And he was playing the piano like Liberace. She looked down. Her dress was sparkling, made to match Raul’s suit. Raul stood and held out his hand. She took his hand and they twirled to the music of Liberace as the countdown began. Ten, nine ,eight seven, six…….