8-23-2014
...to fit in the red dress
The dress probably wasn't expensive. It's a simple knit, no designer label. But the fabric is soft, sliding between Carol's fingers as she holds it up to check the fit. It's v-necked and red, a flash of color in the gray world of the wreck-covered highway, like a cardinal in winter. And, like a bird, it's elusive; nothing she could ever catch and hold, not even before the dead started to walk.
She catches Lori's judgmental look, mutters, "Ed never let me wear nice things like this," even as she discards the dress, same as she's always discarded her dreams.