The Secret Lives of Dresses by Erin McKean Page B

balanced.”
    “I understand.” Dora couldn’t look at Dr. Czerny too carefully; she didn’t want to see any lingering doubt that might be in her face, or any sign that things were more serious than what she was saying.
    “Did your grandmother have any kind of health-care directives?”
    “Like a living will?” Dora could see the carefully labeled file in Mimi’s desk, floating up in her mind’s eye unbidden. “She has one of those.”
    “If you could bring anything like that with you tomorrow, that would be really helpful. We like to be as respectful as possible of patients’ wishes. We called her internist, but his answering service said he was out of town.”
    “No problem. Will do.” Dora didn’t trust herself to speak in longer sentences. If they wanted Mimi’s living will, then things were seriously not optimal.
    Con was holding Mimi’s hand when she went back into the room, and talking in a low voice. He seemed to be telling Mimi about Mrs. Featherston. “And she was wearing a leopard-print jeans jacket! It might have even been real fur. I mean, not real leopard, I hope not real leopard, but something definitely furry. I remembered it particularly to tell to you.”
    Con looked up and saw her face. “I’ll go get the truck,” he said. He turned back towards Mimi. “I’ll see you soon, Mimi.”
    Dora walked over and kissed Mimi on the cheek. She couldn’t bring herself to say anything.
    When she got back out to the front, Con was waiting. Dora hauled open the door of the pickup and hoisted herself in.
    “Bad news?”
    Dora only nodded.
    “I know this will sound weird, but—do you want to go to the movies? I mean, now?”
    “Now?” Dora looked at her watch. It was eight-thirty. It felt like midnight.
    “I thought you might want a little distraction. I saw a lot of movies—especially old movies—when he was sick. Just enough distraction to keep me from dwelling, not enough distraction to make me feel guilty for enjoying myself.”
    “I should take advantage of your hard-won experience.” Dora’s voice had a little quaver in it. “Okay, let’s go to the movies.”
    “Great. Next decision: take our chances with the nine p.m. show at the Brew & View, or multiplex at the mall?”
    “Let’s take a chance on the Brew . . .”
    Con just nodded. Dora looked out the window at nothing.
    They were quiet all the way to the Brew & View, and Dora was grateful. Dora fumbled for her wallet at the ticket booth, but Con beat her to it. The movie was The Princess Bride.
    “Okay by you?” Con asked, as they were finding their seats.
    “Perfect by me. It’s my favorite movie.” Dora felt like she was going to cry again. “I’ve never seen it on a big screen, I don’t think.”
    “See? The universe wants you to feel better. And eat popcorn.” He waved over a waitress. “Popcorn, and a beer. Two beers?” Dora shook her head. “One beer. And a . . .”
    “Diet Coke,” Dora said in a small voice.
    “And a Diet Coke for the lady. You want anything else? Wings? Jalapeño poppers? Goobers? Good & Plentys?”
    Dora shook her head. “That’s all, then,” Con said to the waitress.
    When the waitress had gone, Dora turned to Con. “Nobody eats Good & Plentys,” she said.
    “Shhhhh,” Con hissed. “The movie’s starting. I have a strict no-talking-in-movies policy.”
    Dora nodded. The screen wasn’t very big, but it was bigger than her television set. And the Brew & View had a real movie projector, and ran real film, not DVDs. Not that Dora would have probably known the difference, but she could hear the faint and comforting whirring noise of the projector in the background. Sitting in the dark, Dora tried to keep her attention on the movie, but her thoughts kept going back to the hospital room, and Mimi. She wished she had her own Miracle Max to give her a little miracle.
    When it was time to storm the castle, Con leaned over. “This is my favorite part,” he said.
    “Shhhhh,”