Summerlost by Ally Condie Page A

shop doorway, no one looked up. So I stood looking in. Rows and rows of clothes on racks, all around the room. Shelves at the back. Sewing machines and ironing boards and long tables with chairs. A mini-fridge near the door. Four or five college-aged women and men moving around doing different things. One woman sitting at a computer in the corner. And an older Asian lady with short white hair sitting at one of the tables using a tape measure. She had glasses on a chain around her neck, and she wore a black apron over her blouse and pants.
    She was the one who looked up first. “Can I help you?”
    â€œI’m looking for Meg,” I said.
    â€œThat’s me.”
    â€œDaniel Alexander said to come see you,” I said. “About my costume. He spilled his drink on it.”
    â€œOf course he did,” Meg said. “Wait here. I’ll find you something to wear.”
    She came back out with an outfit that was completely different from the white peasant blouses and patterned floral skirts. It was a deep green dress with a full skirt and ribbons woven through it.
    â€œYou can tell Gary he’ll have to live with it for today,” she said. “I don’t have any concessions costumes left in your size. This was from the children’s act in the Greenshow, years ago.”
    â€œOkay,” I said. “Thank you.”
    â€œCome back tomorrow and I’ll have the other one washed for you. I don’t want you taking it home and doing it wrong and getting the stain set in for good.”
    â€œOkay,” I said again. I resisted the urge to spin around and see what the skirt would do. The dress felt old but it didn’t smell that way. And then I had an interesting thought.
If Meg had been making costumes for so many years, maybe she knew Lisette Chamberlain.
    â€œYou’re a Lee, aren’t you,” Meg said. “Ralph and Naomi Carter are your grandparents.”
    â€œYes.” I felt surprised even though I shouldn’t. My grandparents had lived in Iron Creek for years and my mom grew up here and the town wasn’t that big.
    â€œI heard you bought a house here,” she said.
    I nodded. “The old Wainwright house.”
    â€œAh,” she said. “That’s a house with some skeletons.”
    I must have looked taken aback because Meg said, “I didn’t mean that literally. It’s a nice house. And I bet your mom is doing a lot of work fixing it up.”
    â€œShe is,” I said. “She’s building a deck.”
    â€œGood for her,” Meg said. “What’s your name?”
    â€œCedar.”
    â€œAnd you’re working for Gary.”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWe could use someone to help out in the costume shop too.” Meg gestured around her at the shop, the people working in it. “We’ve got a lot of extra projects this summer. But we’ve already hired everyone we have the budget to hire. I don’t imagine you’re a juvenile delinquent who needs community service hours.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œI didn’t think so,” she said. “Bring that dress back tomorrow.”

4.
    â€œNice,” Leo said when he saw me. “Are you supposed to be a princess or something?”
    â€œObviously,” I said.
    â€œWow.”
    â€œThey didn’t have anything else in my size,” I explained.
    â€œSo how was it in the costume shop?”
    â€œFine,” I said. “Meg was pretty nice, actually. Maybe she’s only scary to Gary.”
    â€œI guess it kind of makes sense that you guys get along,” Leo said.
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œShe’s Korean.”
    I stared at him.
    â€œLike, she has Korean ancestry,” he said, as if I only needed him to explain.
    â€œ
I
don’t have Korean ancestry,” I said. “Just because Meg and I aren’t all white doesn’t mean we automatically have things in common. That’s a stupid thing to