Charley's Aunt

The most recent film femulation of Charley’s Aunt was by Thomas Heinze in the 1996 German version of the play.

About a million years ago, I shopped in boy mode for my female wardrobe, but I always had an excuse to justify my purchase to the sales representatives (as if she cared or even believed me). As a result, I did a lot of shopping in October using Halloween as an excuse, but what’s a budding girl to do the other 11 months of the year?

I went to the UCONN branch in Waterbury and one day on the way home, I drove through downtown and noticed that a new woman’s clothing store had opened. I learned that it was a large woman’s clothing store – a perfect fit for a size 18 like me.

The store was opened Thursday evenings, so I decided to shop there then because there would be less foot traffic downtown and I’d be less likely to run into anyone I knew.

So one winter evening, I drove downtown to shop at the store. There was hardly anyone out and about downtown or in the store, which turned out to be owned by a mother and daughter, who greeted me when I entered their establishment.

The Mom asked if I needed any help. Since it was three months after Halloween, I had to come up with a new excuse , so I hit her with, “I need a dress because I am going to play the ‘aunt’ in my school's production of Charley’s Aunt.”