30/365: Woman with the Mickey Mouse sweater

"Are you cold? Here, have my sweater," she said. I had been playing out on the pier when she approached me. It was windy and I was a little cold, but it still took a bit of convincing before I accepted it from her.

It was large - it went down to my knees and I had to roll up the sleeves. It had blue and white vertical stripes and a large Mickey Mouse on the front. It was definitely not the sort of thing I would have picked out for myself.

When I wandered back to my parents they were visibly puzzled and perhaps a little disturbed. "Erin, where did you get that?" they asked. I explained, and then led them out to the spot where I had last seen her but she was gone. The fact that I would never be able to return the sweater bothered me in a really profound way and ensured that it was many, many years before I was able to send it off to charity.