Claire wasn't fooled by her brother. He tried to hide the bump on his head, but she knew he had one. To keep his dignity intact, however, she didn't say anything about it, or ask where he'd gotten it from.

Instead, she'd left him a bowel of warm water and some wash clothes next to his bed incase he needed them, and went back to her own room to go to sleep for the night.

Her alarm clock went off at seven the next morning, and having a job working in a hosery mill, a job she'd been able to keep since the war ended, she got up and got dressed in her work clothes, a blue button up shirt and a pair of black trousers, and she put on her long coat and gloves before she left. She didn't know how much longer she'd keep the job before she went on to something else, but for now, she liked having it because of the extra money she brought it. She got paid six dollars an hour, and that was more than she'd ever dreamed she'd get paid for a job.

But there was one very good reason she was wanting to give it up. The police chief, her brother's boss, Brian Irons. The man visited the factory from time to time because he had a friend working there, and every time he came around, Claire felt like he was staring at her, and not in a very good way at all.

The man gave her the creeps and made her skin crawl.

She hadn't said anything to Chris about it, afraid he'd lose his job over it, getting angry and confronting Brian at work. So Chris had let her continue working there until she could find something else to do, such as working at The Soda Shoppe on Ema street, near where they lived. Besides, Claire knew she could handle herself until then.

It was a typical day though, thankfully, a nice bright Sunday morning, and the factory was never open too long on Sundays. About three hours in the morning to clean up before the next week started, and then everyone went home.

So Claire was in and out, and she walked down the road quietly from the mill, declining to catch a taxi cab because the morning was nice and brisk enough to walk.

Her red hair curled around her face, and she'd had the back of it twisted into a pony tail at the base of her neck, as was the style for most ponytails. The wind whipped a few random curls from her bangs and around her head as she went, and she stopped on the corner and looked across the street at Chester's.

Tilting her head in thought, she wondered if she should go in and have a look around, see if there was anything nice in the store that she or Chris might want to get while the sale lasted, but she hesitated for a moment.

As much as she knew she was supposed to be a lady, she couldn't help but feel that she didn't like shopping much. In truth, she'd actually grown to like the trousers she'd been wearing for work a lot, and had sometimes even worn them around the house when she wasn't up to anything much. But a lot of women had been wearing trousers lately, so she didn't feel all that badly about it.

A red convertible with its hood up pulled around to the front of the store and parked while Claire watched, bringing her out of her thoughts. A women who looked Asian to Claire, wearing a pair of sunglasses, with neck length black hair that was covered by an expensive looking cartwheel hat tilted to the side of her head, got out of the car and headed inside. Claire thought she looked like the epitome of what it meant to be a woman and flaunt it.

She felt somewhat jealous, but then again, she didn't. She could only wonder if someday, since she was no longer really attached to anyone, her more boyish mannerisms would keep someone from liking her. But then again, if they didn't, it obviously wasn't meant to be. So she just ignored the pretty woman's appearance for now and decided she wouldn't let it bother her.

Claire also decided to just go to Chester's with Chris later and shop then. At least she'd have more fun browsing with her brother around. She'd usually bother him with questions to the salesman of intimate apparel. The thought made her smile brightly.

"Claire!" She suddenly heard someone calling her.

Stopping to look back, Claire saw Rebecca running toward her from across the street, and stopping when she got close enough to her friend, "Hey, are you going home?"

"Yes, I was. What are you doing out here?"

"Well, I was going to go shopping. I just saw you walking down the street."

"After Christmas Sale at Chester's, huh?"

"Yeah," Rebecca smiled and she looked over at the store. "Ada Wong's there though. I just saw her go in. Kind of makes you hesitant to go inside."

"Ada Wong?," Claire asked. Then it hit her. That singer from the nightclub. She wondered why she hadn't realized it before, but then again, it wasn't as if she'd ever seen the woman in person. Not to mention she'd been wearing sunglasses anyway. "Yeah, might be a flock of guys coming here pretty soon to try and ask her out, or just ogle her."

Rebecca started giggling softly, and she put a hand on Claire's shoulder, "Let's go in anyway. Maybe we'll be able to shop easier if no one's paying us any attention."

With a smirk, Claire shrugged, "Okay," and she started walking across the street to go inside.

Once they got to the front doors of the department store, Rebecca saw a display of television sets and she said, "You know, I almost have enough money to buy one of those."

"It would be nice to have one. Everyone's always saying they're great."

No one that either girl knew had a television set, but they figured that maybe, if they waited, the prices would go down, and they could get an older model, like with the new vacuum cleaners they had out. But only time would tell.

As they shopped though, Claire saw a zoot suit in the mens section. Most of it was black, but the button up shirt, stripe on the hat, and design on the shoes were all green. "Hey, Chris would like this, green's his favorite color."

"How much is it?"

Claire picked up the price tag and she said, "Wow, it's 50 percent off. I have enough money, but it's not on me."

"Bring him back later, it might still be here."

"Good idea," Claire grinned as she looked up at Rebecca, and then the smile faded.

"What's wrong?" Rebecca asked and looked behind her, seeing Brian Irons standing in the store across the way, and sadly enough, he'd seen them as well. Rebecca looked back at Claire, her face a little concerned, and she said, "Come on, let's just go."

With a brief nod, Claire said, "Yeah, let's."

As they moved back to the front doors of the store, Rebecca asked, "He's still watching you like that?"

Claire only nodded, "Sadly."

"Have you said anything to Chris?"

"No, I don't want him to get mad and lose his job."

Rebecca sighed, and she continued down the road with her friend. The chatted idly as they went. Once they got to the street corner, they looked both ways before they crossed it, and nothing was coming. So they started walking again.

Suddenly, a car came tearing around the corner and slammed on its breaks next to them, causing both girls to yell in surprise.

Brian was sitting behind the wheel. Claire was about to yell at him when she saw who it was, staring at her in particular. Claire couldn't move for a moment, but then she flinched and grabbed Rebecca's hand and moved toward the other side of the street with her. Once they were back on the sidewalk, Claire looked back at the car as Rebecca pulled her along.

Brian had gotten out, "Hey, are you two okay?"

"We're fine," Rebecca called back before Claire could say or do anything.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Rebecca didn't want to hang around with him there, no matter what time of day it was, and she told Claire, "just keep going. He won't follow us."

Claire nodded, a little angry, and a little scared at the same time, and she turned with Rebecca, saying, "I think I might get a taxi cab after all."

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be okay," Claire smiled at her to reassure her, "I just need to collect my thoughts. Not to mention he can't hit us if we're in a car. Well," she amended, "not that easily."

"Alright," Rebecca replied, and went with her to do as she'd wanted to.

Claire was starting to get a little worried. If Brian kept this up, she would have to tell Chris. But, she knew she could always make him promise her not to confront the man about it. There were other ways to take care of the situation.

Still though, Claire didn't like it. Not at all.