Dead Man’s Suit
By Margaret Sorensen
“I’ve got the job” had sounded so good when Bill came home from his final interview with IBM. “I start working in three weeks,” he said.
There was only one problem. At the interview he had been told that IBM required their employees to wear a suit, white shirt and conservative tie. Also, black shoes and socks.
Bill had one suit, and he didn’t like it and never wore it. He said he was saving it for his funeral. He liked casual clothes like jeans and flannel shirts. Nothing dressy.
The next day we went shopping for some suits. We only had about $100 and even the cheap suits cost more than that, and they were ugly.
My mother came up with a possible solution. Her friend’s husband, a man about 50 years old, had recently died of a heart attack and her friend was trying to sell the man’s suits to help pay for the funeral. The dead man had been about the same size as Bill except he had a pot belly and longer legs.
We went to try on the suits and we noticed that the quality of material was much nicer than anything we had seen in the store. The suits were beautifully tailored and they fit Bill. The sleeves were good and the jackets needed only minor adjustments. We would need a good tailor to take in the waistband and shorten the legs. The colors were perfect, dark blue, dark gray, dark brown and black.
The widow brought out a pair of black shoes and when Bill tried them on, they fit. She gave us a basket of socks and about l0 neck ties to go with the suits. We gave her $100 and she was happy. Bill and I were delighted.
The big day finally arrived. Bill was up at 5:00 am to get ready for his first day at work. He put on his favorite newly tailored dead man’s suit and calmly said, “I look just like an undertaker,” and away he went.
Working for IBM required a few adjustments to our existing life-style. Every day I would iron a long-sleeved white shirt, and every day Bill would cuss a little while putting on a tie.
Three months later, Bill had his first job evaluation. His boss told him he had done well on his job assignments and he praised him for having a good appearance.
Bill never told anyone where his new wardrobe had come from, but he and I knew we had made a very good investment when we purchased the dead man’s suits.
This is one of more than 100 stories by 37 writers in this anthology. To read the others, purchase the book at:
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