Couture Clothes Anyone...

My sister, Lori, and I were out shopping, browsing really at the high-end clothing store Nordstrom, I say browsing because their prices are usually out of our not-from-the-Hampton's budget range. With our book nearing a release date, Lori realized we should pick up something special for our first book signing when she spotted a cute cute dress that would be perfect. Now we needed two, and Nordstrom dresses are usually in the several hundreds of dollars on up. What's a pair of twin girls to do?

Remember during the Hazel Moon party at Lily Lake Resort, when our publisher gave us proof copies of our book, within minutes people began flocking to us expressing interest in buying copies...it was as if the Book had a mind and a purpose of its own and was opening doors to finding us an audience! Well, the normally $400 dresses had been marked down to a clearance price of only $10, so we bought two!! (If you want to see them you'll have to come to our book signings!!)

If you've read Hazel Moon one of the opening scenes has November and Angela working at Merry-Go-Round in a mall, a relatively high-end fashion-conscious boutique popular in the '80s that sold expensive jeans and other clothes. Later in the story, November told Angela to put on an expensive couture dress she'd gotten from Finn, a former fling, so our story was closely connected the world of couture and Nordstrom might be considered an upscale evolution of the Merry-Go-Round franchise.

Mere coincidence...or more Magic???!!!

From the book:

Chapter 3

A contemplative mood overwhelmed November as she flipped her bangs whimsically while considering the implications of what she'd just said to Angela.

"The band and the guys in the band are older than both of us put together. I think they have the experience to handle whatever the night throws at them. Besides, I think they're scheduled to perform until midnight, the bewitching hour, and on the Eve of the Hazel Moon. Doesn't that play into your fantasies of something mystical and unexpected unfolding at the festival?"

Angela was feeling it, both coy and seductive decked out in her new-moon black Paris couture gown. November's worries over demons and evil didn't bother her. Darkness was just like the rain—it might affect you, but it was the same old story, the same old song and dance.

She knew November was moody, but this was a night for fun and frolic.

"All-knowing high priestess serving the great God of Music, wait till you see what's going on at the Tampax Stage. Girl, think diamond-studded earrings, like everywhere!"

Still stressing, November replied, "Angela...Angela...just like you to go all mall materialistic on me when I'm like this—you really don't get me, do you?"

A moment to reflect and November realized she'd always been a sucker for the Tampax Stage.

"It's really low-platform but so real. I saw the Violent Femmes and Kate Bush there before they went gold. The reverb was garbling the sound so most of the crowd left, but it was rad for those of us who showed and stayed—I mean it mattered...it made a difference...you know?"

"Well, that's cool that you remember it that way, but dig this, that stage has completely changed," Angela conveyed, animated like a Hanna-Barbara cartoon character, acting as if she'd just spilled the secret to eternal life.

"Yep...Dickey, Mr. Tricky, and me, Miss G, checked it out last night...that's right, my parents didn't even know I snuck out! We slammed down some TJ Swan. I like Dickey. He talks about you a lot. Didn't he tell you about how rockin' the stage looks now? I thought he was your biggest, best buddy?"

"Not these days...we run into each other, but that's about it," November replied, her attention more on the accelerating Camaro's hum and grumble.

After downing her drink, Angela went on, "The stage is all rigged up like a castle or monastery...or something like that, with torches and lava lamps—it rocks! And, your boys, Echo and the Bunnymen, are playing there tonight!"

"Well...whatever, Angel, all the frills, stages and venues and such, just don't mean much to me...I'm all about Bunnymen—if they were playing on the moon I'd want to go see them there."

November's voice became breathy and jittery, like when you down a week's worth of birth control pills right after unprotected sex with a guy you'd never marry in a million years.