bones, in her head. She was just so tired…Her stomach grumbled and she realized she couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten. Had it been yesterday?
She shuffled into the kitchen wearing Gerry’s dressing gown and her favorite pink ‘Disco Diva’ slippers, which Gerry had bought her the previous Christmas. She was his Disco Diva, he used to say. Always the first on the dance floor, always the last out of the club. Huh, where was that girl now? She opened the fridge and stared in at the empty shelves. Just vegetables and yogurt long past its sell-by date leaving a horrible stench in the fridge. There was nothing to eat. She smiled weakly as she shook the milk carton. Empty. Third on his list…
Christmas two years ago Holly had gone shopping with Sharon for a dress for the annual ball they attended at the Burlington Hotel. Shopping with Sharon was always a dangerous outing, and John and Gerry had joked about how they would once again suffer through Christmas without any presents as a result of the girls’ shopping sprees. But they weren’t far wrong. Poor neglected husbands, the girls always called them.
That Christmas Holly had spent a disgraceful amount of money in Brown Thomas on the most beautiful white dress she had ever seen. “Shit, Sharon, this will burn a huge hole in my pocket,” Holly guiltily said, biting her lip and running her fingers over the soft material.
“Aah, don’t worry, Gerry can stitch it up for you,” Sharon replied, followed by her infamous cackle. “And stop calling me ‘shit Sharon&rsquo, by the way. Every time we go shopping you address me as that. If you’re not careful I might start taking offense. Buy the damn thing, Holly. It’s Christmas after all, the season of giving and all that.”
“God, you are so evil, Sharon. I’m never shopping with you again. This is like, half my month’s wages. What am I going to do for the rest of the month?”
“Holly, would you rather eat or look fab?” Was it even worth thinking about?
“I’ll take it,” Holly said excitedly to the sales assistant.
The dress was cut low, which showed off Holly’s neat little chest perfectly, and it was split to the thigh, displaying her slim legs. Gerry hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her. It wasn’t because she looked so beautiful, however. He just couldn’t understand how on earth that little slip of material had cost so much. Once at the ball, Ms. Disco Diva overindulged in the alcoholic beverages and succeeded in destroying her dress by spilling red wine down her front. Holly tried but failed to hold back her tears while the men at the table drunkenly informed their partners that number fifty-four on the list prevented you from drinking red wine while wearing an expensive white dress. It was then decided that milk was the preferred beverage, as it wouldn’t be visible if spilled on expensive white dresses.
Later, when Gerry knocked his pint over, causing it to dribble off the edge of the table onto Holly’s lap, she tearily yet seriously announced to the table (and some of the surrounding tables), “Rule fitty-fife ov the list: neffer effer buy a ‘spensive white dress.” And so it was agreed, and Sharon awoke from her coma from somewhere underneath the table to applaud and offer moral support. A toast was made (after the startled waiter had delivered the tray full of glasses of milk) to Holly and to her profound addition to the list. “I’m sorry ‘bout your ‘spensive white dress, Holly,” John had hiccuped before falling out of the taxi and dragging Sharon alongside him to their house.
Was it possible that Gerry had kept his word and written a list for her before he died? She had spent every minute of every day with him up until his death, and he had never mentioned it, nor had she noticed any signs of him writing one. No, Holly, pull yourself together and don’t be stupid. She so desperately wanted him back that she was imagining all kinds of crazy things. He