Cowgirl Outfit

 

When I was around eight years old my sister and I would play dress up. Plastic high heel shoes, plastic wigs, old odd fitting clothes that smelled musty, fake jewelry that turned green and pretend money. 

We would play and pretend we were big ladies shopping at the department store that our mother took us to so many times. We really didn’t understand the money part but we would put it in our pretend cash register and slam the money draw closed and hear the ding of the bell.  

It was fall season and almost Halloween. Time to pick a costume. We went to Woolworths and there was the usual plastic mask, flimsy pull-on costumes of clowns, cats, superheroes, doctor, witch and vampire. I wanted a Cow Girl outfit.  

We went to the local stores with no success. Mom decided to take up to Gimbels Department Store in Manhattan. The lobby of this now long-gone mega store had six-foot witches and hanging spiders and a man dressed as Dracula to greet all the customers. It was so much fun and I was so hopeful in finding my Cow Girl outfit. 

Up to the second floor where the costumes were, my sister and I grabbed Mom’s hands and raced to the display. There it was the Cow Girl outfit of my dreams.  

Brown fringed skirt spotted here and there with a black and white cow pattern with pink tulle outlining the hem, black hat with a gold band studded with cowboy turquoise jewels, fake of course but I didn’t know the difference. Boots, there were boots too. The shirt was gold ochre button down embroidered with green horses and purple lassos and a blue vest. It had a belt with a plastic silver gun and pretend bullets and to top it off and yellow bandana.  

I tried it on and it fit. I was overjoyed. My sister picked an angel outfit. I am not surprised because she is younger than me and little kids like angels. Bigger girls like me are more daring; I wanted the risk of being a Cow Girl and ride horses and shoot guns.  

Off we went to the cashier and Mom paid. Stopping at the cafeteria located in the store and we ate grilled cheese sandwiches and drank vanilla sodas. With our packages we boarded the train back home.  

I slept with my perfectly boxed outfit until it was time to parade around in it. My sister did the same with her angel costume but she drooled on it during the night. That is what little kids do. It was OK, Mom fixed it.  

The last day of October arrived and we dressed carefully, me in my Cow Girl outfit and my sister in her angel outfit. We met up with friends and marched up and down our block with trick or treat bags filled up with pennies and candy and chocolate. As the night ended, we got home and filtered through our treats. We had enough candy to last at least a month.  

There is no other outfit I ever wanted as much as this Cow Girl outfit and getting his outfit made that day my best and most wonderful and most memorable Halloween I ever had. 

Georgia