Editing The After Hours (section)

==Plot==
Marsha White, browsing for a gift for her mother in a [[department store]], decides on a gold [[thimble]]. A crowd of people are waiting for the [[elevator]]. She notices another elevator is empty.  The male elevator operator advises her that thimbles are on the ninth floor.  As the elevator rises, the floor indicator shows only eight floors. When Marsha walks out onto the dark, empty ninth floor, a saleswoman leads her to the only item on the floor: a gold thimble. Marsha is puzzled and unsettled by the behavior of the [[elevator operator]] and the saleswoman, who knows her name. The saleswoman asks Marsha if she is happy; Marsha responds that it is none of her business and storms off. As Marsha rides the elevator down, she notices the thimble is scratched and dented; the elevator operator directs her to the complaints department on the third floor.

She tells the sales supervisor and the [[store manager]] that she bought the item on the ninth floor.  They do not believe her, telling her there is no ninth floor. She has no evidence of the transaction as she paid cash, and has no receipt. Marsha then thinks she sees the saleswoman, and is shocked to discover that the figure is actually a display [[mannequin]]. While resting in an office to recover from the shock, Marsha is accidentally locked inside the store after hours. Searching for a way out, she becomes alarmed by voices calling to her and by subtle movements made by the mannequins around her. Wandering the floor, she topples the [[sailor]] mannequin, whom she recognizes as the elevator operator.

She flees backward to the now-open elevator, which again takes her to the ninth floor. There she gradually realizes that the "ninth floor" is a storage area occupied by thinking, animated mannequins. With the mannequins' gentle encouragement, she eventually accepts that she herself is also a mannequin. The mannequins take turns, one at a time, to live among humans for one month.  Marsha had enjoyed her stay among "the outsiders" so much, she had forgotten her identity and has arrived back a day late. The next mannequin in line — the saleswoman — forgives Marsha for her tardiness and then departs the store to take her turn. As the other mannequins bid farewell to the saleswoman, the sailor asks Marsha if she enjoyed her time among humans; she sweetly and sadly says she did.

The next day, the sales supervisor makes his morning rounds on the sales floor and does a double-take upon passing the Marsha mannequin on display.