saleslady

We all smiled gratefully and thanked our grandmother when she pulled the tags off our new outfits, handed them to the saleslady, and said, “They’ll be wearing these out.”

Audrey led us to the biggest dressing room after getting a nod from the saleslady at the counter.

Then she nods to the saleslady, who disappears back into the dressing room.

Once, I went to a fancy clothing store on Newbury Street with Mom, and a saleslady started following us around the store, looking at us like she didn’t trust us with the merchandise.

The Women in Black is not a cheering title, but in Madeleine St John’s novel the characters are not in mourning; they are salesladies in a 1950s department store in Sydney.