4th December

Maia was excited when she sat behind her aunt in the car. Sophie decided to go alone with Maia because going with the men was just no real shopping. They were always so hectic and had little endurance. Derick had left after the breakfast already and her uncle had made some visits in the village when Maia and Sophie left for the shopping tour. They were not alone though. With them in the car were Margot Riley and Dorothe Riley. The first one was a 38 years old wolf lady and Dorothe was her 8 years old daughter. Maia enjoyed to be just with women to be honest, because she did not feel as nervous as she was around Derick and Patrick before. She chatted with Dorothe, while the adults were talking with each other in the front. Even though Dorothe was much younger than Maia, she seemed to be very developed for her age, at least in the selection of topics. The young wolf told Maia about her school and that she could not decide which of her class mates she would accept as her friend. Apparently, she was very popular in her class and got a few love letters. Maia thought about her own school. Sure, she had received a lot of love letters as well but none of the boys had ever sparked her interest. Most of them only wanted to have her as a trophy, because as a white fox she was a very rare breed. At least that was the feeling they had given her all the time and this was why Maia had been rather upset instead of being flattered by their love letters. She avoided the topic regarding herself and just asked a few more questions about Dorothe, who was happy to talk about all the boys she cherished in her school.

When they arrived in the city an hour later, Maia knew everything about the class and the friends of Dorothe and deep inside she was happy the tour was over and they would have different topics. For the wolf girl it seemed to be a very special event, because she was very excited and ran around, pointed at show cases of shops and asked her mother a lot of things. For Maia the shopping center seemed rather small, even though it had a good selection of shops. She just was used to much bigger shopping centers with at least twice the size and streets just with shops that went on for Milo. "Oh we have those too, but not here. We would have to drive a bit longer if we want to get to the big city." Sophie answered her question when she mentioned her thoughts. Margot Riley had all paws full to control her daughter and not have her run into every shop while Sophie guided the group to a big apparel store that had a big selection of winter clothes. Coming from a warm are, a lot of the thick clothes were something Maia only had seen in movies and she showed as much interest into the new clothes as the wolf girl. She tried on many pullovers, warm skirts, coats and scarfs but also underwear and warm night gowns. Dorothe also wanted to test a lot of clothes, even though her mother told her that she would only get one new coat and not more. The girls had fun pretending to be models on a cat walk and after half an hour they were walking in front of the adult women with shaking their hips and showing off the clothes from all angles like they imagined a model would do to present the latest collection. The adult women chuckled and applauded the girls and even one of the female shop workers came by and started to comment on the clothes they were wearing and purposed other clothes.In the end they took over one hour in this shop alone and when they left, they had a few bags in their paws.

Dorothe had managed to get her mother to purchase not only the promised coat but also a new night gown and a scarf in blue and white. Maia had been very hesitant to choose something, because she did not want her uncle and her aunt to feel like she was abusing their kindness. She did not have enough money with her and her aunt had told her to not worry about it and that they would pay for the clothes. In the end it was her aunt choosing the clothes for her and she did not go short on the selection. She brought a pink coat of faux fur that did not only underline the feminine nature of Maia but also fit her fur color and her eyes perfectly. In addition, she got a pair of pink boots to go with the coat. These were the only things Maia directly put on to protect herself from the air outside that had gotten colder. The coat was so wonderful warm, that she nearly started to sweat under it and had to leave it half open. In the bags Maia was carrying, she had two warm night gowns, even though she was not sure if they were really needed, because the heating in her aunts and uncles house had been warm enough, two new warm underskirts, a pullover and two warm skirts and a long sleeve shirt that Maia liked especially. It was of a dark green color with an embroidery of mountains and trees on it. The shirt reminded Maia so much off the village where her uncle and aunt lived, that she wanted to purchase it as a memory. "Are you feeling warmer now?" asked her aunt and Maia nodded. "Thank you very much. Is it really okay? You purchased so much for me." Her aunt laughed. "Don't worry dear. All is okay. We are also not finished yet." And with this she led them to the car to store away the bags and then they went to a restaurant to have lunch. Maia had not noticed how hungry she was before she actually stepped into the restaurant and smelled the food. It was an Italian restaurant and she took a pasta while Dorothe took Pizza and the adult women took a big salat. Maia noticed that even though she had eaten pasta before, and also those that they called Italian at home, it tasted much different here. For Maia it tasted much better. The cheese was light but had a distinguished flavor. The meat filled tortilla were cooked just right, with a bit of bite but without the disturbing flavor of half cooked pasta. The sauce tasted fresh and not like from the supermarket. It had real pieces of tomato and meat in it and Maia enjoyed every bite of this pasta. The adult women watched the girl eat with joy and asked her a few questions if she had never had real pasta before. Maia did not say much but concentrated on eating, but she told them that it tasted much better than the pasta she knew from home. "Well, the weasel who is running this restaurant comes from Italy, so I this is the real deal here." Margot explained and Maia had to admit that eating the original recipe was far better than some package you warm up at home or some family restaurant in the big city. They finished their meal with a small ice cream, even though it was cold outside it tasted awesome for Maia, and then they continued with their shopping tour.

When they drove back to the village, Maia was exhausted from the day. Dorothe was already sleeping next to her. They had continued to show off clothes in the evening, but with much less energy. After the lunch they both had become a bit exhausted and they only went through a few smaller shops afterwards. Sophie got Maia a few pieces lingerie, a scarf, some warm long socks, a cap and some paw warmers to complete her outfit. Maia did not understand why she had to get all those but Sophie explained that it would soon get much colder. Maia smiled when she thought back to the shopping tour and she only looked with half open eyes on the landscape around. She still loved to look at the Milo of fields, forest and pure nature but she just was too tired. She listened a bit to the chatter of the women, who were talking about preparations for Christmas, and finally fell asleep.