Carole peered through the glass door of the supermarket freezer cabinet. Family size chocolate gateau was on special offer, and would probably be nice and squelchy, but brown wasn't the colour she wanted. She glanced at the items already in her shopping trolley - tomato soup (orange), custard (yellow), mushy peas (green). Red and blue were conspicuous by their absence, and if she wanted the full rainbow then she also needed indigo (whatever colour that was) and violet.
She paused to consider the flimsy white cotton dress hanging in her wardrobe. A recent find in a charity shop it carried more than its fair share of fussy details, frills and lace trimmings. It had also been worn and washed enough times to make the fabric soft and thin -- close to holes in places. It wouldn't stand much more wearing, but it was perfect for today's purpose.
She pulled open the door of the freezer cabinet and reached for a large strawberry gateau with real fruit on the top. That would make a good red colour when it was squelched up. As she grabbed it she noticed frozen blackberries on an adjacent shelf and stopped still. Blackberries! Of course, blackberries make a purple(ish) stain. She plopped the gateau in the trolley and hurried back to the fruit and veg aisle.
"One punnet of blackberries," she muttered as she hunted for one with signs of mushy over-ripeness. "Just need indigo and blue now." She scratched her head. Was indigo a kind of pink colour? It could be couldn't it? She ambled over to the fridges and collected a big tub of strawberry yogurt. Just blue to find now.
Carole pursed her lips and looked back at the fruit and veg aisle. Mashed potato was nice and squelchy, but it wasn't blue. She frowned. Maybe it could be blue if you coloured it? She drew herself up tall, picked up a bag of potatoes, and headed off to the baking aisle to look for a bottle of blue food colouring.
Back home an hour later, and with the frozen gateau sitting on the draining board to thaw, Carole poured herself a glass of wine and took it into her bedroom. She opened her wardrobe and took out the dress. Washed with bleach and carefully ironed, it looked pristine and virginal. She closed the wardrobe door and hung it on the handle.
She opened her underwear drawer and thumbed down the stack of neatly folded knickers. She pulled out a pair from near the bottom and smoothed them flat on the dressing table top. White silk with embroidered flowers on the front, worn and washed many times. Her fingers drew one of the side seams taut. The fabric was thinning and the stitching threatened to pull out, but this exquisite little garment was far too fine to put in the period pants pile.
Finally she pulled out a white bra. Its lightly padded satin cups overlaid with lace had offered so much style when she chose it, but somehow it never fitted quite right. But on the plus side, it did give her impressive cleavage the last time she tried it on.
She laid the bra on her dressing table with the knickers and took a sip of her wine. She closed her eyes and concentrated on slowing her breathing to try and calm her pounding heart. She'd anticipated this for weeks and needed to savour it.
Drawing a deep breath Carole pulled her tee-shirt over her head, unclasped her bra, and tossed them both into the laundry hamper. In one fluid movement she pushed down her jeans and knickers and tossed them on top of the tee-shirt and bra without bothering to disentangle them from each other.