Lottery Winners Make Very Good Friends

"Hey, Sally! What's new and beautiful on your clearance rack?" Mindy breezed into Barden's Boutique, her mood improved by leaving work and the prospect of shopping for a new dress. It didn't really matter that she'd be wearing the new dress on a date with El Creepo, also known as her boss. Mindy planned on spending as little time as possible with Bernard Morton at the office Christmas party. The man emitted extremely weird vibes.

"Mindy!" Sally greeted her. "There are some pretty nice items on the clearance rack. Or you might want to look on the regular racks and see if anything catches your eye. We're having a good sale this week."

"It would have to be a ninety percent off sale for me to be able to afford anything. Oh, hi, Rosanne. How are you? I haven't seen you since you won the lottery."

"Hello, Mindy. It has been awhile. How have you been?"

"Not as good as you," Mindy replied. "What does it feel like to be a gazillionaire?"

"Very nice," Rosanne admitted. "Are you looking for a new dress?"

"Yes." Mindy began flipping through a rack of party dresses. Red, green, gold, silver--they were all gorgeous and all out of her price range. "I'm working at Kutrate Kemicals and we're having an office Christmas party."

"You quit the newspaper?"

"I'm just taking a short leave of absence. I was burnt out on journalism so I thought I'd take a break." That was the story Mindy was giving to everyone and--amazingly--they all seemed to buy it. Or perhaps no one was interested enough to wonder why Mindy would give up being the editor of a newspaper to become what amounted to basically an office slave.

"How do you like working there?"

"Well, I'm starting to get ready to go back to the paper," Mindy said with a grin.

"Say, we're having a party too and I'd love it if you'd come with Tyler."

"Thanks, Rosanne. I'd like that." Mindy felt a new appreciation for Rosanne. Working for Mavis Schuyler must have been a lot like working for Bernard Morton: miserable.

"You know what else I'd like?"

"What?"

"If you'd let me buy you any dress you want to wear to my party. It would really give me a great deal of pleasure to do that."

"Oh, Rosanne--I don't know--" Mindy stopped her toothless protests. Rosanne wanted to treat her so why not? "Well, if you insist that would be great. I'd love to have a real knock-em-dead dress to wear to the office party and to your party."

Rosanne reached for a glittery gold number and held it up. "This would look perfect on you, Mindy."

"All right," Mindy said, "but you have to let me bring my famous onion dip to your party. It's the least I can do. Are you inviting Mavis?"

"Sure. And her latest boy toy. Sounds like fun, doesn't it?"

"It sounds unforgettable," Mindy replied.