We followed the woman into a well-lit room filled with racks of dresses and formal men's wear. I'd been right about the dresses. They were all the same style just in different colors, most of those colors were shades of white. It looked like they'd anticipated my mother's wedding dress fantasy. I guess for most people buying a formal white dress was a huge expense. I'd never need it but there would be girls that wouldn't otherwise get to wear a formal white dress on her wedding day.

They were all long floor-length with masses of poofy tulle to get the skirts to stand out. The neckline was full making certain everything had been covered up to the neck. There was a large folded triangular collar that covered from shoulder to shoulder and I think it was meant to mimic the appearance of wearing a stole. The sleeves were long as well but thankfully they didn't look like they went all the way to the wrist.

"One of you stand here. The other can find her shoes over there." The woman pointed to a wall with boxes stacked floor to ceiling with sizes printed on the side. "They are all the same style you can choose black or white. Be careful not to let the tower fall on you, dear." She called as I wandered over to the boxes.

Maize gave me a look but dutifully stepped up onto the box the woman was using as a makeshift pedestal. She whipped out her tape and began to instruct Maize on where to position her arms.

I grabbed a shoe box from the top and looked inside. They were simple black leather heels with a strap that went around the ankle. They were cheap too. Heck, my purple boots probably cost more than these and the slippers were meant to be formal. They did have a slightly larger heel than my boots so I guess two inches was respectable of formality and you probably could dance in them for a short while without your feet screaming at you to stop.

I grabbed a box that had my size printed on the side and tried them on. They ran a little big so I exchanged them for a size smaller. That was better, but did I want white or black? I wouldn't know until I'd picked out my dress. I was leaning more towards black but I could dye the shoes any color I wanted when I returned if they were white. I went with white for that reason only.

Perhaps I should get a white dress? Dyeing a dress a color I would actually wear sounded appealing. I wasn't going to live out my mother's white dress fantasy no matter how much she wanted grand-kids. Getting the white dress now and dyeing it would get her hopes up. I glanced at Maize and the five dresses the seamstress had picked out for her. They were all white.

"No," Maize was saying looking at the dresses.

"But dear, the colored dresses are more for the older women."

"No," Maize said again.

The woman turned and looked at me. She saw that I had chosen the white shoes and mistakenly thought I'd take her side in the matter.

"Dear, perhaps you can talk to your friend. A nice white or cream dress would be lovely to take home as a souvenir."

"No," aid Maize stepping down from the box. She walked over to the colored dresses and started going through them.

"Oh, don't mess them up. I have them in order by size!" The woman chased after Maize and tried to stop her from riffling through the clothes.

"Where are her size?" I asked walking up to them.

"Well, the white ones are..." She turned to show me the white dresses.

"Let her look at the colored ones. If she doesn't like any of those she will probably take the darkest cream color you have. Right Maize?" I hadn't known Maize long, but I had a feeling the pure white was not her style. "In fact, I'd also like to look at the colored options if you don't mind."

"Oh, well I guess that would be fine. Most of our colors are geared towards more matronly ladies so I don't think you will like them, but her size starts right here at this green one and ends with the orange one at the end of that row." She pointed to the end of the rack.

We left Maize to dig through the dresses and she brought me up onto the box. After I'd lifted my arms, spun around, had everything measured the woman showed me where I could find my sizes in white and colored dresses. Sighing that her first clients were more independent than she wanted, she asked if she could go back to the common room and leave us to our selections while she tried to find more girls to put into white.

I was fine with that and so was Maize.

Maize found her dress almost as soon as the woman left. She pulled out a shimmering copper-colored dress. It was pretty. Not all the dresses had a shimmer to them. Most were more matte colored. There were a few that had some shimmer, but not many. I wondered what the fabric was made of to give it that slight shine. Maize stepped behind a curtain to try on the dress.

I really did like the shimmer of Maize's gown. So much so that I began to search out the ones in my size that had that same shimmer. There was a copper one that I considered but I didn't want Maize to think I was copying her. No, it was nice but it didn't suit my skin tone like it did Maize.

Then I spotted it. Oddly enough with the colored dresses and not mixed into the lighter whiter shades. It was a shimmering dove gray that reminded me of storm clouds just enough blue in the hue to remind you of the sky. It was a beautiful color, pity that the design wouldn't be flattering on me or anyone else with a small chest.

Maize appeared from behind her curtain and nodded at my choice. Then she turned and had me button her up.

"It fits," I commented, "and it's a great color on you." Both were true but like I had suspected the large collar did nothing for girls with flat chests.

"Shoes?" She asked.

"I'd go with the black I think. I was going to go with the white so I could dye them later, but do you think I should go with the black instead?"

"Will you dye the dress later?"

"No, I love this color."

"Black shoes. Go get changed I'll find the shoes." She took my box from me and started digging through the shoes.

I went behind the curtain and placed my clothes beside Maize's. I stepped into the gown and pushed my arms into the sleeves. I had to be careful with my burn since I didn't want any of the burn cream to stain the sleeves. It had dried mostly but I didn't want to chance it so I was very careful.

The mirror in the curtained off cubicle was small but I could tell that the dress would fit once I'd been buttoned up. The color looked good on me too. The male part of me was happy with the neutral color the female part was excited about the shimmer. It was really a compromise. If male me had to wear dresses this was a good one.

It was a pity that the suits weren't even an option though. Some of them looked rather nice. Not that there was a variety in the men's area either. They did have the same black suit made of different materials and some of those materials looked nice. I shook my head at myself. There was no way I'd be able to wear a suit, besides this dress was lovely in color if not in cut.

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Maize wandered over and handed me a box with black shoes. Then made me turn so she could button me up.

"Loose," she commented pointing to first her chest area then mine.

"I've never stuffed in my life but in this case, we may have too." I turned and looked at myself in the long full-length mirror. The side profile was nothing but the large triangle collar. There wasn't much of a silhouette to work with in this dress. I hoped that it could be altered later. It seemed like a shame to waste such a pretty color.

"Oh girls, I see you've found gowns," the seamstress walked in with another woman in tow. She did not sound happy to see us in the garments we were wearing.

"Are those really the gowns? Who designed them? Gods above they couldn't be more unflattering." The woman who came in behind the seamstress sighed.

Oh, I'd recognize that mauve floof anywhere! It was the pink princess from before. The one who had flirted with the other men at the card table with her husband standing right there. She also made her own clothes if Maize heard her correctly. No, a fellow seamstress wouldn't take these outfits as they were if she could change them.

"You've picked wonderful colors girls it's a pity that there isn't much to the dresses themselves." The mauve lady swept by the speechless seamstress and inspected us in the dresses. "Do you agree?"

"Well, to be honest, I had been thinking that the cut wasn't very flattering to girls who were less blessed on top." I gestured to my chest.

"Yes, they would look a lot more becoming on ladies who could fill them out better. I'm not trying to be rude to you. My, what you must think?" The lady apologized while circling both of us like a shark.

"I don't have anything formal in my wardrobe, but I'm beginning to think even one of my tea dresses would be better. I can make everyone agog at my choices. Eccentricity is a bonus that comes with age girls, you'll see.

"Oh, I'm Sissy. My name is really Priscilla but everyone calls me Sissy." She finally stopped in front of us and shook our hands.

"These dresses were selected to be the most suitable for all age ranges." The seamstress finally spoke up to defend her garments.

"I'm sure they were. However, not everyone has the same body shape. Did you not factor that in as well?" Sissy shot back she leaned forward and flipped up my collar looking underneath it.

"We took modesty into account." The seamstress huffed. "If you don't want the dress and think you have something more suitable you may feel free to sign the form saying you've been seen." The woman tried to hand Sissy a clipboard with a stack of papers attached.

"No, I need a dress. I will just have to fix it before tomorrow. I don't need the shoes though. I have a pair that should work fine," she frowned and looked us over again. "Yes, I can fix this."

Sissy rattled off her measurements to the seamstress and then plucked a honey-colored dress seemingly at random from the rack. She didn't even bother to try it on.

"You girls should come with me. I think I may be able to help you out as well." She tossed the gown over her arm and raised an eyebrow at us.

"I was thinking of getting it altered later," I hedged. I didn't want this eccentric woman to ruin my dress.

"It will be a simple fix."

"Ok," agreed Maize. Wait, what? Maize wanted this woman to alter the dress. "See how mine looks then you decide," she turned to me and added.

"None of you are walking out of here without signing these forms. I have paperwork to do and satisfaction reports to take." The seamstress seemed upset. Were the satisfaction forms for her customer care or for the garments themselves?

I reached out my hand to for the clipboard. The poor woman was just trying to do her job. Turned out the form was for all over customer satisfaction. With her helpfulness and with the clothes. Considering they were free we really shouldn't be so judgmental of them. They did have some rather lovely colors if they stopped trying to give the young unmarried women white. Still, I understood that they had decent intentions. I left an overall good review, took the paper from the top, then handed the clipboard to Maize.

I gave the woman the form and she seemed startled when she read what I'd written.

"Thank you," she said simply. I guess she had been expecting bad reviews considering that we didn't want white or really like the overall design. I figured the reviews probably reflected on if she would continue to be employed by the casino. I didn't want the poor woman to lose her job over something that honestly wasn't in her control. She'd probably been ordered to offer white to the young women. She shouldn't be penalized for just performing her job.

Maize and the woman Sissy finished up as I changed back into my regular clothes. I guess they must have thought along the same lines as me since the seamstress seemed very thankful when she read them. She placed all three forms in a folder and followed us out the door. She was probably going to try and find more accommodating clients. I wished her the best of luck.

Maize was carrying her regular potato sack dress and wearing the copper one. Sissy had said it'd be easier to fit her if she just kept it on. So we followed Sissy to her shared room. I could immediately tell which bunk was hers since it was piled full of clothes and boxes. More boxes and bags were stuffed under her bunk with even more crammed into corners around it. I suspected the bottom bunk next to her bottom bunk was her husband's since his bed had also been hit by Hurricane Sissy.

"How did you manage this? I thought we were only allowed the one bag," I asked.

"I showed up with all of it. They tried to talk me into leaving most of it on the dock, but when I said that I wasn't going without it they had to give in. After all, participation is mandatory for those who won. Besides, I boarded right behind a woman who had four bags. They couldn't actually make me leave my stuff especially since they let her on without any fuss. They can't be seen favoring the money after all." Sissy winked at me and began to pull things from out of the pile.

She measured Maize again and then did some rapid pinning. Most of the pinning was done around Maize's waist. I thought for certain Maize was going to get stabbed with all the pins being jabbed everywhere.

Sissy then helped Maize out of the dress and brought out a seam ripper. I about fainted when I saw her taking out the seams for the collar. I felt sick when she took off the sleeves. Then things began to change.

The collar unfolded and became a long piece of fabric. Sissy refolded it into another shape. Then dug through her rather large sewing kit for some brown thread that matched Maize's dress the closest. She didn't actually have copper but the color she did use came close. She turned the dress inside out and it looked like tulle had exploded all over her as she worked.

She hand stitched the armholes on the dress folding them in so that they didn't look ragged but had a more finished look. Then she worked around the waist. Adding small single stitches in places where she put her pins. It took her thirty minutes but within that time the dress had completely transformed.

Maize put it on again. There were now darts in the dress so that the eye line went to her waist. Since the fabric had been gathered in and the larger collar removed you could now see the Maize did have a chest. It was modest but there. It was a huge improvement, but Sissy wasn't done.

She took the re-folded collar and wrapped it around Maize's waist. The new belt with a bow at the back accentuated her slimness even more. I could leave the bow but without cutting the material there would be too much fabric dangling behind without the bow. Sissy even had a use for the sleeves. She fashioned a simple twisted headband for Maize out of them. It brought the hair out of her face and gave her a more polished look.

I was really impressed. Just by moving some things around and doing some very simple stitch-work Sissy had drastically upgraded the dress. I couldn't wait for mine to be done too. I was more willing to let her rip apart my dress than I had been. I also felt slightly bad that Maize and I had been gossiping about her just a short time ago. While her behavior and dress had been odd, her skills were actually top notch.

She had me put the dress on, did the same pinning she did with Maize, then she frowned.

"No, something slightly different with you." She undid her pins and began to place them again more to the sides. She kept pulling my dress up as she placed pins. "You have a shorter torso so I'm going to fix that," she muttered over her mouth full of pins. She finally had me take it off and went to work ripping apart my dress.

The result was stunning. She had made darts along my side that angled down. It fit snugly against my chest, but the darting made it look like I actually had more there than I actually did. She also made a belt with my collar but she also used my sleeves. She crafted layered sash that wrapped around my waist. A few quick stitches and the layers were in place and attached to the dress. I would be unable to undo the bottom button, but I'd be able to get in and out of it even without that extra room.

"Thank you," I said humbly looking into the small mirror she held up.

"Not a problem. Just be sure to tell people who did the dress. I'm hoping to drum up some business for when this trip is over." She dug through her bag and handed Maize and I a card with her business address on it.

"I'll tell," Maize promised.

We stayed and chatted with Sissy about her business for a while. Then saying our thanks Maize and I left, dresses draped over our arms. We went back to the room we shared with the other girls. We never did get to eat that cake.