14 English

Clothing  We are in the middle of September.  Dona Rosario has been worried for a few days, because the school year is about to start and the children are a little bit more than naked.  It's time to go buy new clothes,  because later there is a lot of bustle in the stores.

On a Thursday, early in the morning, the whole Souto family left for Santiago.  Just as  they arrived, dona Rosario went directly to "Berce", the store of one of her friends who sells things for children and always does her a favor.  So she bought some pants for Lelo.  She didn't let him choose: "I was these because they are dark and strong, she said. Anyway in two days he will come home with them all dirty and unraveled in the rear-end  because of dragging himself..

Lelo turned up his nose.  He wanted  the pants  that a mannequin was wearing, which were long and had a belt. They bought him a blue jacket  there with white metal buttons and a coat with a hood.  He wanted to wear it, but dona Rosario  asked that everything be wrapped up.

"You will try it out when school starts." she said.

After, they when to "Helsinki Shoes", where they bought shoes for everyone. Don Antón bought some boots.  Henrique also bought some strong shoes, since there is so much water in the streets of Santiago during the winter..

"For this one",  Rosario said referring to Lelo,  give me some leather-cord reinforced boots, or even better would be for me to buy him some wooden soled shoes. He walks and kicks  the stones.  He ruins the shoes'  point as soon as he puts them on.  Give me size thirty, that way he has room to grow into them."

When they noticed, Carme had already quietly  tried on more than twenty pairs of shoes and she still didn't know which ones to buy.

When they passed by  "The Maragata Fabrics" they all stopped in front of the store window. A Scottish skirt, that a mannequin had on, is what attracted Carme's eyes.
"I want one like that, " she said as soon as they walked into the door.

And they gave her seven or eight to try on until she found one that fit her well.  In the meantime, Henrique was trying on a gray striped suit in the Men's Section.
"This one fits me as well as if it were  made to measure by a tailor" he was saying to his father.  They have to trim the pant legs a little."

Right there, dona Rosario bought other clothes: shirts, tee shirts, underwear and socks for her  sons; bras, slips and other underwear for Carmiña. She also bought some wool stockings for her.

Don Antón reach for his empty pocket while he was going down Salomé street and he was thinking to himself: "And what will I use to pay for an umbrella, a boina and a hat for parties?"

On the return home, Henrique was driving the car and don Antón started to sing that song that they had learned last year during San Froilán's Festival:

"Put  the velvet hat on me
and the velvet vest,
the pants and   the belt, too,
that I bought at the fair in Lugo..."