Jace, one of the richest men in Los Angeles, wore an impeccable suit, white and designed with such daring artistry and precision that people would not be able to take their eyes off it, or him. He never had to wait in any line when he wore the suit, or for any table in a restaurant. Attractive women often wanted to touch it and were thrilled by its certain magical softness. Other men often felt jealous but still could not help but study the jutting shoulders, the angled cut to the pockets.

Jace wore it every day and when he had it dry-cleaned he would wait in the drycleaners, in just his boxer shorts and an undershirt, keeping an eye on the cleaners and paying them extra to put an extra rush on the suit. When it was done he would put it on immediately and walk out wearing it.

At night he slept in it. Often he spent the night with girlfriends who joined him in bed but he could only bear to half-remove the suit even at the height of passion. And there was a lot of passion because when he wore the suit the most beautiful girls inevitably followed him home, invited or not, and he was never alone.

Mara, the youngest daughter of the family of drycleaners, was the one who usually took the suit and made sure that it was cleaned quickly. She never followed him home because her preference was for other girls and she was the one person unaffected by the charm of the suit. When one day her girlfriend Tracy, who had been visiting her at the cleaners, followed Jace home and spent the next few nights with him Mara became terribly jealous.

The next month when Jace brought the suit in, Mara told him she needed to re-sew one of the buttons in the back room. He was upset to have the suit out of his sight, even for a second, but he trusted her since she always did a great job cleaning and pressing it. She took it into the back and he stood close by, in his boxers and t-shirt, waiting anxiously.

Once she was alone with the suit she laid it on a table and took out her biggest scissors- giant shears with huge, newly sharpened blades. But just as she was about to cut the suit to shreds she had to stop herself. She found she couldn’t destroy something with such amazing workmanship. She dropped the shears and touched the fabric. Then she found herself putting the suit on and it fit perfectly.

When she came out of the back room Jace could not believe his eyes. He saw before him someone so beautiful that he felt completely powerless and confused. He became just like one of the suit’s many sycophants who had been following him around. “I’ll do anything for you, Mara,” he said. “You’re so… Amazing.”

She shrugged his hand off her shoulder. “What I would like actually,” she began. “Is your Bentley.” No sooner had she uttered the word but the car keys were in her hand. Soon his mansion was hers and his private jet. He was content to follow her around and do things for her, just to be near the suit.

Mara’s ex-girlfriend came calling at the mansion one day but Mara’s servants were under strict orders to turn her away. Mara now had more new friends than she could handle and she had never forgiven Tracy for going home with a man.

This did not keep Tracy from stalking Mara and she often sat in the bushes just outside the mansion’s gate for hours on end. She chased the Bentley when it would leave through the gate, calling to Mara, but the security guards let the dogs loose and she ran back to hide in her car.

One day when Jace was on an errand for Mara, Tracy grabbed his arm. “Don’t you want your suit back? I know a way to get it.”

“My suit? What do you mean?” And Tracy reminded him of how the suit used to be his and it all came back to him in a terrible rush. The two then plotted together to get the suit back. The next night Jace led Tracy into the mansion and when the security guard dozed off for a second they snuck through the darkness and up the marble stairs to the bedroom. Soon they both stood over Mara who slept soundly, wearing the suit under white satin sheets. Just as they’d practiced they jumped on her, covering her mouth, and while she struggled they managed to get the suit off her, throwing it to the floor in the melee.

Mara’s guard dog, who had been sleeping soundly in a room next door, came in, barking furiously. He stopped abruptly when he saw the suit on the floor however, and became suddenly enchanted. Before anyone could interfere he attacked the suit, ripping and tearing it to shreds with his sharp teeth and claws. All three lunged at him but he bit their hands and they recoiled. They could only then watch tearfully as the slobbering animal tore the once magical garment into an unrecognizable pile of rags.

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