Izzy returns from the undry room. Her weird experience with Doctor Blob still fresh in her mind. She sees Jacob sitting on the bed pying with his guitar. “Hey, honey, I see you got a lot done.”

  “It was an adventure,” he says, “for sure.” She tries to put away her clothing in her suitcases, but they are missing. She turns and sees them in the closet as well as her clothes hung up.

  “Oh, you unpacked the car,” she adds, surprised he had enough time to do that as well. “Where are my bras?” she says, holding one up.

  Jacob points to the dresser, and Izzy walks over and opens the one with the diaper bag. “Oh, those are yours, not mine,” she says. Jacob blushes bright red.

  “Should we just throw them away?” he says, feeling a tornado of mixed emotions forming inside him.

  “No, I think that would be wasteful,” she says, then opens the other drawer and puts her bras inside.

  “Almost feels homey,” she says to Jacob once she is done sorting clothes. She wraps her arms around him and kisses him passionately. They crawl into bed and watch a movie. The clean sheets and the organized room made her feel comforted. She smiles and melts into his arms.

  When the movie ended, she kissed Jacob and was feeling hungry. “Let’s go eat,” she suggested.

  “Yeah, why not?” Jacob smiles at the idea. “The bar, as usual, right? What's the theme?”

  “Well, shit, I have no idea,” she says. “Could always just call.”

  Jacob picks up the phone and dials. “What's the password?” the cat says in a grating Chicago accent.

  “Uh, please?” Jacob says before he can finish talking, the cat cuts in.

  “Hang up, snitch,” the cat says, and Jacob looks at Izzy, confused.

  “Password? He says, gesturing with a frustrated shoulder shrug.

  Izzy grabs the phone. “Cat, what’s the theme tonight?

  “Oh, Izzy, How are you doing? It's fpper night,” he says as he stands at the bar, phone in hand, top hat and bck suit perfectly pressed.

  “Ok, Cat, we will be down,” she says and hangs up the phone. “It's fpper night, Jacob; what do I even own that fits the theme?” She starts flipping through her clothes and pulls out a long bck dress. She throws out the diaper she has been wearing all day and throws on a bck bra and panties. She digs out every set of fake pearls she owns and puts them around her neck. She looks at herself in the mirror. Despite all the recent escapades and debaucherous living, she has maintained her figure. “Not bad, not bad at all,” she says, looking herself over in the folding closet mirror. She slips on the dress and nods in approval again. She walks into the bathroom and applies bright red lipstick and a little eyeliner to really sell the look. She walks back out and digs through the small pile of shoes. ‘It’s only 10 pairs; don’t be judgy,’ she tells herself as she puts on a pair of Mary Janes.

  When she is all done, she twirls for Jacob. “What do you think?”

  “I love it, Izzy, but what do I wear?” He looks at his two small bags of clothes. “I don't really have anything fancy enough.”

  She raises an eyebrow. “The cat must have something or know somebody.”

  She picks up the phone and dials him again. “cat It's me, Izzy. We need clothes for Jacob.”

  He grins over the phone. “I bet you would have something that would work. I imagine something red and slinky would do nicely.”

  “Not helpful, Cat,” she retorts.

  “What a shame. Ok, go to reception, tell her you need a bck three-piece, and tell her Mr. Jones sent you,” the Cat says, drumming his fingers on the bar. His eyes never leaving the man in the wide hat sitting in front of him. A man from a past he would rather forget.

  Jacob throws on a t-shirt, shorts, and bck sneakers, and together they head toward the bar. The parking lot is extra full tonight, with lots of people talking and the smell of cigarettes and pot in the air. Izzy makes a disgruntled face.

  But soon they enter the reception, and the smells are repced by jazz music leaking through the wall into the room. At the reception desk, the woman is deep into a game as usual.

  “Mr. Jones sent me,” Izzy tells Sue, the receptionist.

  The woman looks at Izzy bnkly. “What are you talking about?” she says.

  “The cat told me to tell you, Mr. Jones.” She responds.

  “Oh yeah, you want the coat check, that’s right. The cat thinks he is funny and comes up with all sorts of code phrases on top of the other ones I have to juggle in my head; it's obnoxious. Enough of my problems.” She pauses her game, stands up, and comes out from behind the desk. She shows them to the rge closet that is located behind the reception desk.

  The door is Dutch style, where the top and bottom can open independently. She opens both, and together they walk inside the rge closet. It is filled with 2 yers of racks on both sides of the room; the bottom yer on the side facing the desk is empty, ostensibly for the use of being a coat check.

  Izzy begins looking through a rack. “Whose are these?”

  Sue shrugs. “People visit the ranch, and then they just leave the stuff behind, so we use it like a prop department.”

  Jacob pushes past Sue and begins looking for a suit. He holds up a pin-striped affair. “What about this?”

  “Might work,” Izzy says and pulls out a Roman toga. “Roman night?”

  “Yeah, we have them occasionally, but with Mars around, we stopped; he would get out of control,” Sue says, making a shaking hand gesture.

  Sue leafs through another rack, looking on her own. “What about this charcoal gray suit?” She holds up a sharp 3-piece suit made out of herringbone fabric and all in charcoal gray with wide pels and a single-breasted cut. Under that, a nice vest finished off with a simple white button-up below that.

  “Yeah, that will work for sure. What's your name?” Izzy asks,

  “It’s Sue,” Sue responds.

  “Good taste in clothing, Sue,” she says, trying to memorize the name.

  Jacob acts timid. He felt confident about picking clothes out at first, but this level of clothing is out of his league. He doesn't know a jacket from a vest or a tuxedo from a bzer.

  “He needs pants. Let’s see what we have,” Sue says and thumbs through half a rack till she finds some that fit the style. They are high-waisted with a neat cuff at the hem. She hands them to Jacob.

  “Got the shoes,” Izzy says with a cheer. They are two-tone oxfords, bck leather with white accents.

  He starts to get dressed, but he really is unsure of how everything is supposed to go on. Sue slips past Jacob, and her shirt gets caught and raises up, showing off a diaper. Jacob stares at it until she leaves. “What?” he mumbles.

  “If you need anything else, just pop out and ask.” She smiles and gets back to work, and by work, I mean beating a level 5 dungeon on Eternal Realms.

  Izzy pulls Jacob back to focus. “Ok, bottom up: pants, shoes, shirt, vest, jacket, and then definitely a tie.” Izzy searches for a tie and says, “And there are lots of ties.” She helps him get dressed, putting on a nice bck tie to go with the charcoal.

  “Yeah, that’s better.” She finishes tying the tie and pulls him close with it. She makes out with him slowly. “Thanks for dressing up.

  “Uh, yeah, anytime,” he says, feeling suddenly warm. “Just don't forget a hat.”

  Jacob grabs a bck fedora and puts it on his head. ‘I really don't like hats, and this entire costume is annoying,’ he grumbles in his head, ‘but if it makes Izzy happy…’

  “Let’s go eat and maybe dance,” she says with a smile.

  He grins back and thinks, ‘And that’s what it’s all about, that smile.’

  “Wait, what dance? Maybe if you get me drunk enough,” he adds and follows her out of the closet and turns into the bar.