Kapitel 25: Shopping

"Here's fifty thousand." Just outside the bank, Margaret, who had just come out, stuffed a large brown paper bag into Josh's hands.

Hearing the number, Josh's hand trembled as he took the bag, almost dropping it.

Upon opening it, he saw that it was indeed five stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

"Why so much?" Josh held the paper bag and asked, a bit bewildered. Didn't he say that a few thousand dollars would be enough?

And woman, your heart is really big. Aren't you afraid of being robbed?

"Is it too much? Just spend it as you see fit. Men need money for things outside, so it's not bad to have more on hand," Margaret pecked Josh on the cheek and said affectionately.

With just this one sentence, Josh was almost caught off guard.

What a good woman. Thinking about those women in the future who demand cars and houses at the drop of a hat, Josh felt a thousand emotions in his heart.

Indeed, a sugar mommy is the best.

At this moment, Josh felt a thousand thanks to Tony Wendys.

How could such a good woman fall for him if it weren't for this guy's mischief?

As a return, Josh decided to make Tony Wendys suffer a bit more and help Margaret vent her anger.

Otherwise, he didn't deserve this pitiful beauty's deep affection.

So Josh nodded and did not refuse Margaret's kindness, accepting the money.

Margaret, who saw this, didn't think he was greedy at all. Instead, she was happy, thinking that Josh had fully accepted her, not like before when he insisted on giving her money even though she had a place to live.

"Oh, we should go buy some clothes first. Your clothes are of poor quality and don't match your handsome face. Hmm, you also need to change your shoes," Margaret said excitedly, holding onto Josh's arm.

"Okay, I'll listen to you!" Josh nodded. He didn't really care about what he wore, but facing this sweet and lovely girl, he couldn't refuse her.

"But I don't have any clothing vouchers left," Josh said.

Like sugar and gasoline, even in the United States during this period, buying clothes and shoes required special clothing vouchers.

Starting in 1942, every federal citizen would receive 24 clothing vouchers yearly to purchase clothes and shoes.

It may seem like a lot, but do you think one clothing voucher can buy one piece of clothing?

Absolutely not.

The actual standard is that buying a big coat requires 18 vouchers, a full suit requires 26, a pair of shoes requires 9, slippers require 5, a slip (undergarment dress) requires 3, pants require 8, bras require 3, and so on.

In other words, 24 clothing vouchers for one person are actually not enough to buy a complete set of clothes from head to toe under normal circumstances.

Shoe purchases were also subject to real-name registration, with each person limited to purchasing two pairs per year. If you wanted to buy more, you could only buy used ones.

And some things couldn't even be bought with vouchers.

What things?

Stockings.

Yes, stockings.

A fact that makes people in later generations somewhat amused and incredulous is that stockings were considered important strategic materials on par with sugar and gasoline during World War II.

Why? Because of parachutes.

Before the war, the main material for American military parachutes was not nylon but silk from Asia.

But after the war with Japan began, the supply of silk was cut off, and the parachute material changed to nylon.

So the federal government ordered all nylon producers, including DuPont, to stop making nylon products such as stockings and instead produce military supplies such as parachutes.

And it was from then on that civilian stockings skyrocketed, with prices soaring to $20 a pair.

But this was just the beginning.

During WWII, the price of stockings reached a terrifying $4,000, even higher than those female celebrities would dare to charge for their used underwear in the 21st century.

Even so, the production of nylon was still unable to meet the demand. As a result, the military launched a fundraising campaign among civilians...

They advertised with pictures of handsome men in the army and called on all women to donate their stockings... It was really outrageous.

Actually, there was something even more outrageous. According to a report by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, the top three items targeted by roadside robbers in the United States during the war were not valuable items such as dollars or gold but rather alcohol, stockings, and shoes.

That's why Josh wore his father's oversized coat when he went out because it was the only clothing he inherited from his father. Even the clothes he wore when he retaliated against or "borrowed" cars or tracked and killed Joe Barbera were mostly old, so he wouldn't feel too bad about burning them.

As for new clothes, he had just bought two or three sets a few days ago when he had some money, and that was all he had spent from the clothing vouchers he and his deceased parents had saved up over the past two years (1942-1943).

Thinking of this, Josh's gaze couldn't help but shift to Margaret's smooth thighs, and he couldn't resist reaching out to touch them.

"Hey, there are too many people here, don't make a scene! Don't worry about the vouchers. We don't need them," Margaret said, then leaned close to Josh's ear and whispered, "If you really can't resist, we can find a place with fewer people."

The soft voice in his ear made Josh shudder. Damn, this woman was really good.

No, no, he was still growing up and couldn't be too greedy. So Josh decisively pretended not to have heard Margaret's words and started the car, driving to the destination as directed by Margaret.

When they arrived, Josh realized that the clothes shop Margaret had mentioned was not a regular store but a high-end private tailoring shop he had only heard of in his previous life.

However, in this era, these custom clothing shops were not as pretentious as they were in the future. There was no issue with selling ready-to-wear clothes. After some haggling with the tailor, Margaret helped Josh pick out three sets of ready-to-wear and three sets of custom-made clothes.

Ultimately, they didn't even need to use the vouchers, instead paying with a thick stack of bills. Of course, Margaret's social status as an upper-class woman in Chicago played a role.

So, the so-called scarcity of resources and limited supply was ultimately aimed at the powerless and ordinary people. After buying clothes, they went to another shoe store and did the same thing.

During their shopping spree, they also went to a watch store and spent thousands of dollars on a Patek Philippe watch. Although in the future, Patek Philippe's reputation would be surpassed by other brands such as Vacheron Constantin and Audemars Piguet, in this era, Patek Philippe was the only king of watches.

After some shopping and grooming, Josh's entire outfit was renewed. Coupled with his handsome face, tall figure, and confidence as a time traveler, his overall demeanor was elevated.

From a common handsome guy, he transformed into a modern-day gentleman.

As the ancient Chinese saying goes, "Clothes make the man just as a saddle makes the horse."