Wild and Wooly

Marlene drove her Honda Pilot to Multnomah Village. She would be able to walk to the Village when she moved into her new home, she thought. That would be very handy when the coming oil conflagration reached fruition. But she didn't need to worry about the Chinese plot to buy all the oil in the world today. She had bigger fish to fry. She parked her car at the bank and walked across the street to Northwest Wools. Marlene was in luck. Minda, the proprietess of the shop was behind the counter. "Minda. Hello," Marlene began. "I have a crazy question for you."
"Let's cut to the chase," Minda said. "I have inventory to shelve. I just got a new shipment of Opal sock yarn."
"Oh, really," Marlene said. "What colors did you get?"
"It's funny you should ask that," Minda said. "Some guy came in earlier and asked me to make up a sock kit with my newest sock yarn and most expensive needles. He said to give it to you tomorrow morning and that you were to pay whatever it cost."
"How very strange," Marlene said.
"That's not the weird part," Minda said. "He said you have 48 hours to make the socks and then hang them in a clear plastic bag from the door knob of the empty shop where Billy Jack had his tribal rug store. He said if you make the deadline, he will contact you with your next instruction."
"How does he expect me to knit when I'm moving next week and I still don't have acceptable towel bars?"
"I don't know, but I have to tell you he was kind of scary looking."
"Exactly what did he look like?" Marlene asked.
Minda described the man as best she could.
"Are you sure?" Marlene asked.
"Of course I'm sure, why wouldn't I be?"
"Because the man you just described is dead."
"Too bad," Minda said. "I already made up the kit, and it would have made a really nice pair of socks."
"Surely it wouldn't hurt anything if I went ahead and made the socks," Marlene said. "How much do I owe you?"