Little red dress

I found myself wandering around in Baby Gap yesterday. Not just because I'm getting broody and barky. I also had the legitimate reason of needing to find a present for a colleague's baby shower. So I spent an hour oohing and aahing at the miracle of tiny socks that I could fit on my thumbs. As I was heading out again, my eyes fell upon a little red dress hanging on a rack in the corner. It was strikingly similar to a dress I had owned as a kid, and it startled back into me a memory I didn't even know I still had.

*********
The whole family was headed for a day by the pool. I was still a wee infant (maybe four), and dressed in my little red dress I saved for fun occasions. We all spent the morning playing in the water, splashing around as we escaped the tropical heat. Dad was teaching me how to swim. Every once in a while, he would lift me horizontally into the air, with me balancing belly-down on his palm, pretending I was an aeroplane. Then he'd launch me headfirst into the water a few feet ahead, as I shrieked in a mixture of panic and delight. The game was called 'the Rocket'. I remember the momentary panic I'd feel on entering the water, thrashing wildly and fearing I'd drown, and then I'd suddenly remember I knew how to swim after all, and the relief would surge through me as I rose to the surface triumphantly. "Again!!" I'd plead to him.

Towards the end of the morning we all got out of the pool, exhausted and exhilarated, and trundled off towards our respective changing rooms: Mum and I into 'Women', and Dad and Rohinton into 'Men'. Mum showered me and towelled me dry and sprinkled me with powder so I smelled like fresh baby. Then she slipped my red dress on me, over my head, but the zipper wouldn't come up.
"Hmmm." She said, puzzled.
"Is it stuck?" I asked.
She wasn't sure. She slipped the dress off again, and tested the zipper. Nope, it worked smoothly. She put the dress back over my head, and tried to zip it up, but again it wouldn't get up past half way. "I can't figure it out!" She exclaimed. "It's not the zip. It's just that the dress doesn't seem to fit you anymore, it's too tight!!"

What.

"But it fit me on the way here," I pointed out.
"I know," she shrugged. "I don't understand it either." She gave it another try, but to no avail. The seams threatened to rip if we pulled it the zipper up any higher.
"We're going to have to ask Dad", she sighed. So I was dragged outside to an impatient father and brother.
"The zip doesn't go up anymore." Mum explained, handing me over to Dad. "It's as if the dress doesn't fit her anymore." Dad frowned.
Rohinton tittered. I glared at him.
"Let me see that," Dad said, examining the zip. He gave it a couple of gentle tugs. Then a forceful one. Nothing seemed to work. The dress simply wasn't fitting me anymore. My parents exchanged puzzled looks.

I glanced from one to the other. "Mum, I need to pee," I said.
"Okay hurry up, sweetie," she said in a bothered tone.
I was back in a couple of minutes, and Dad gestured for me to come over. "Now let's try that again," he said.
And the zip slipped up, easy as pie.
My parents glanced at each other in surprise.
"What the...."
"You think the peeing....?"
Rohinton's quiet tittering in the corner burst into full-blown giggles. Dad grinned down at me.
"I think you slimmed down quite a bit when you peed there, kid," he said.
I looked up at him in horror. Mum tried to smother a smile.
"I guess you just take in a lot of water when you swim," she said. I was mortified, and tears of embarrassment sprang to my eyes.

I can't really remember wearing that red dress again.

******
I snapped out of my reverie and looked at the little dress on the rack again. Now that I looked closely, it wasn't really like the dress I'd had. Not too much. Just enough to jog the memory.