"Not that one. It's ugly." Frau Robel sighed and put down the yellow-brown fabic.
"All right. Then you wouldn't mind fetching some different patterns?"
Thea grabbed the pile of cloth and walked to the front of the store. Ernst and Thea had been brought to the store to find more fabric to make their summer clothes. Frau Robel had heard that Wedekind's shop was the best in town. She looked over to the boy sitting across from her.
"Ernst! What colour would you like for your shirt?"
"It doesn't really matter, Mama. That one is nice, I suppose." He lightly tapped the green fabric laying in front of them on the table.
Frau Robel found it funny, that she would have the pickiest and the least picky children she knew. Thea would never find anything to be quite right, and Ernst couldn't care less. She wasn't dissapointed, though. It made every day a little more interesting. She nodded and folded it up. From behind her she heard galloping footsteps on the dark oak floor.
"Oh, Mama! Look at this one Mama!" Thea shrieked. Frau Robel looked at what Thea was holding. It was brown, almost black and had what looked like disfigured question marks on it.
"This is you want?" She asked hopefully.
"No. It's just so terrible I had to show you." Thea giggled.
Frau Robel rolled her eyes. Shopping trips always went like this, Thea pointing out things she hated and Ernst finishing before they started. Oh well, she thought.
"Ernst – could you please help you sister find more patterns?" He nodded and stood up. Together, Thea and Ernst walked towards the front. Thea was searching for just the right fabric.
Ernst pointed to a pink pattern, "How about this-"
"Do you know who all the girls think is disgusting?... Hanschen Rilow. You two are friends, right?" Thea interrupted
Ernst though about what they were, "Yes. We're friends."
"I would have guessed." Thea giggled again. Ernst just rolled his eyes.
They shuffled through different colours, patterns, and fabrics, but Thea didn't find one she liked. Soon, it became a matter of simply exhanging answers.
"This one?" Ernst pointed to an orange fabric.
"Nope."
"This one?" They boy brushed his hand on a light blue pattern.
"Hmm. No."
"Come on, Thea. Pick one!" Ernst was getting impatient. They had been at Wedekind's for almost two hours and Thea had not found a single thing she liked. Soon enough, Frau Robel came over to them and told them it was time to leave.
"But, Mama! My dress... Mama?" Thea cried.
But, alas, they headed for the door. Thea put her feet down heavily on the ground, making sure her mama knew how upset she was. Right as she reached the door, she turned around and and had one great, last look. Suddenly, something caught her eye.
"Mama! Wait! I found a pattern!"
Frau Robel came hurrying in, Ernst not far behind her. Thea ran to that fabric. She looked at it and touched it lightly. It was green and had flower patterns on it in a lighter shade of green. Thea would put ruffles on the sleeves and at the bottom and have a gray collar. She would tie her hair up in matching ribbons and play by the bridge with Anna and Martha.
"This one?" Ernst asked, almost knowing she would say 'no'.
"... It's perfect."