A novel bell above the front door of a shop chimed as the door opened and a customer entered, the dwindling murmur of a town in the late afternoon trickling in behind them. The clerk behind the counter looked over - the bell commanding her attention - and saw a gentleman walk inside. Looking up behind her at the clock on the wall, it read 5:25pm, and she was wary that she was due to close in only five minutes and very much hoped that this would be the last customer of the day. Her eyes peered over the rows of shelves and followed the gentleman who she could clearly see over them given his stature, all of which were adorned by the most extensive assortment of Halloween paraphernalia.
All the decorations that one might expect and hope to find would be found in this shop as the clerk behind the counter - who was also the owner - ran the most popular Halloween shop in town. Naturally, her business boomed during October and the Halloween season, though it was still successful enough throughout the rest of the year for her to make a living. It was the most popular shop of its kind for a good reason because she poured her heart and soul into it, with all things horror and Halloween being a passion of hers. If there was anything that one wanted to know about horror trivia, Halloween myth, legend and Halloween itself, then this would be the place to come and she would be the person to ask. Not even Google had such an encyclopaedic knowledge of horror and Halloween as she did.
She observed the man browsing a part of the Halloween costume section of her shop as he perused the selection that she had on display, seemingly pondering them with some consideration. There were costumes for witches, the devil, ghosts, vampires, characters like Snow White, Superwoman, Wednesday Addams, Alice in Wonderland and the Queen of Hearts, and many more. The businesswoman was always keen to help her customers and, of course, keen to make a sale, so - after a few moments - decided to approach the man and offer her assistance. Abandoning the confines of the space behind the counter, she made her way onto the shop floor and down the aisles toward the man and the costumes he was inspecting.
"Excuse me, Sir, can I help?" she politely and cheerfully asked as she stood beside him.
"Oh, hi," he responded, still looking at the costumes hanging up on the shelf, "I'm just looking for some Halloween costumes."
"Is there anything you're looking for in particular?" she enquired, trying to get a better understanding of his needs to better aid him and, hopefully, get a sale.
"I'm throwing a Halloween party for some friends and I'm looking for appropriate outfits for some of the guests, as I'll be providing them all."
"Well, what kind of party is it? Is it thematic at all, perhaps toward a specific aspect of Halloween? A specific movie?" she continued to enquire.
"Well..." he responded somewhat sheepishly, "...It's actually for a stag-do for a friend, which will be Halloween themed, and the outfits will be for the... female 'entertainers'."
"Oh," she replied, "I see". Scarlett knew exactly what he meant and was plenty familiar with such shindigs herself. "That's okay, I have plenty of options for that sort of thing." And indeed, she did. This shop owner catered for Halloween costumes for all occasions, including those of a perhaps raunchier nature. "They're just a little farther down here," the woman motioned to the man, and then the man followed her to the far reaches of the store where such outfits were kept. "I think these are more like what you're looking for," she said upon arrival, gesturing toward the different selection of costumes.
"Ah yes, this is what I'm after, thank you," he gratefully acknowledged, looking at the selection before him. There were rather skimpy and naughty-looking costumes - the kind you might expect to find - for nurses, nuns, police officers, sailors, maids, Playboy bunnies, and even characters like Daphne and Velma, and plenty more.
"I'm Scarlett, by the way," the woman said, introducing herself to him, often finding that there was more chance of a sale when there was a personable interaction and a degree of familiarity established with the customer.
"Thank you, Scarlett, I'm Tom," the man replied with a smile, turning to face her first, "Pleased to meet you."
Scarlett courteously returned his smile thinking that she was in with a great chance of a good sale, but also smiling for other reasons that weren't relevant to her running a successful business.
Tom turned back to survey the rather eye-catching costumes on display, pondering which ones he should get, taking one or two off the shelf to inspect them in greater detail. A few moments passed by unspoken until Scarlett asked another question. "How many costumes are you looking for today?". It was a good question, but not one that Tom knew the answer to.
"I'm not really sure," he rather unhelpfully responded, "I've not yet had confirmation on how many... 'entertainers' there are going to be. But it would be helpful to have a good selection, just in case."
That sounded like a grand idea to Scarlett. A 'good selection'? The larger the selection the merrier, the business side of her mind thought. "Do any of them jump out to you?" she asked, trying to gauge what his tastes were and which direction to perhaps encourage him in.
"To be honest? All of them," he replied, again somewhat unhelpfully, "I definitely want some of them, but I don't know whether I need all of them, and I'm not sure which ones to get. It's difficult to decide which are best judging only by the photo on the packaging."
That was a fair point, Scarlett thought, and very keen on making a sale and being as helpful as she could possibly be to her customer, she had a great idea. "What if..." she started, "...I modelled them for you?" suggesting it as though it was something she did often, though it would be a first for her and not something she would do for any other prospective customer. "Then you would get a better idea of how they might look at the party?"
"Oh, wow," Tom replied, grateful for her offer, "Are you sure? That would be tremendously helpful."
"Of course, I'd be more than happy to," Scarlett responded with a chirpy tone in her voice and a somewhat cheeky smile on her face, "Shall we get the ones we want to try?"
At her behest, Tom took a collection of costumes down from the shelves and collected them in his strapping arms, then Scarlett had him follow her once more, this time back to the counter. "Pop them down on the counter for me, darling," she said, working her personable demeanour once more to make the customer - hopefully - all the more amenable, "I'll be back in two ticks." Scarlett quickly but casually walked over to the shop door as Tom sorted the outfits out onto the counter, and she turned the sign around to show 'CLOSED', and locked the door, not wanting to be disturbed from doing everything she could to make this sale.
"I hope I'm not keeping you late?" Tom queried, wary that he was rather late coming into the shop.
"Oh, not at all," Scarlett responded on her way back to the counter, "This is my shop and I can close whenever. Besides, I'm more than happy to help." Scarlett walked behind the counter and stood across from her customer, then assessed the options that he had picked out. "This is a great selection you've picked out, Tom, I think you've picked all the ones I would've chosen," she said like the experienced salesperson she was, though it was also quite heartfelt. Scarlett would've gladly worn any of these outfits on Halloween, or perhaps for
other
purposes on any other night of the year.
"Which one would you like to see me in first?" Scarlett asked, quickly realising what she had just said.
Oops
. That was a bit of a Freudian slip. 'Which one would you like to see first' was what she meant to ask, but instead let slip that she was rather excited by the idea of modelling these skimpy outfits for this handsome man. She hoped he hadn't picked up on her slip and anticipated his response, and Tom scrutinised the outfits that were sprawled out over the counter.
"Hmm," he pondered, "Could we try this one first if that's okay?"
"The witch? Of course, that's an excellent choice," the shop owner said approvingly, then somewhat flirtatiously quipped "Stay right here, I'll just fly into the back and pop this on quickly." Scarlett picked up the first costume that Tom had chosen and made her way through a door to the back office, and Tom patiently waited for his model to return. The store owner, in the back office, found herself doing something which she had never done back there before; undressing. She felt so, so naughty doing this - modelling these outfits for her sightly customer - and it was such a thrill. And it was to try and make a big sale, of course. That too.
So, she quickly slipped off her comfortable shoes, pulled off her appropriately horror-themed top and peeled down her trousers, leaving her standing in just her underwear. Here she was, at work, standing in the back office in just her underwear and using the office as an impromptu changing room - probably not something she envisioned doing when she woke up this morning. Yet she wasn't modelling for this gentleman in just her underwear, as much as he would've liked that, so she grabbed the witch's costume and began to put it on.
After a minute or so Scarlett had donned the outfit - complete with the pointy hat - and she looked just the part, and she couldn't help but think about how she loved getting wet and wild during the witching hour in this sort of get-up. Alas, that is not what she had put this outfit on to do, at least this time, instead she had a customer to impress and a sale to try and make. Checking herself in a small mirror that she kept in the back office, Scarlett made sure that the costume looked just right before she headed back out to the front of the shop, wanting to ensure a good impression would be made.
Tom's patience was kindly rewarded when he saw Scarlett walk back out through the door in which she previously disappeared, and he got a great idea of what the costume looked like thanks to his own personal modelling show. Scarlett came out of the door and out past the counter onto the shop floor with a twirl, giving her customer a full appreciation of the outfit. "What do you think?" she asked as Tom looked her up and down, admiring both the costume itself and the woman that was wearing it. "The skirt on this costume is a little bit on the short side," she highlighted in a somewhat teasing manner, "Though given the nature of the party, that's perhaps what you're going for?"
The customer had indeed noticed the rather short nature of the skirt and Scarlett's lovely, bare legs sticking out from them. How could he not? "That's
exactly
the sort of thing I'm after," he said approvingly, "Something appropriately Halloween-esque, but something
