“Those girls are going to look like they just stepped off the runway in Milan tonight. First impressions, Lucinda. We never met Taffeta Mackenzie before. We can’t be flawed, or those girls’ll make us look like major losers.”
“But there isn’t time to start all over!” Lucinda’s wail is directed at her phone whose luminous face is suggesting that it agrees with the old saying about time flying faster than a jet. “If I change my outfit, I’ll have to redo my make-up and my hair.”
Gabriela shakes her head again, frowning critically at her reflection. “What do you think?” she asks. “Do I look too much like Bambi?”
Despite her own personal problems, Lucinda climbs across the bed and peers over Gabriela’s shoulder. “No,” she says after a few seconds of scrutiny. “No, I think you look great. Sort of romantic and innocent, but knowing and doomed at the same time.”
“Thanks.” Gabriela sits back on her heels and smiles. “It’s really a big relief to have somebody who can give me an intelligent opinion. My family is just so useless. If I want someone to tell me the truth about how I look, I have to send a photo to my friends. And, you know, sometimes they’re in the middle of something else and by the time they answer it’s way too late. So most of the time I have to shop twice. Go once and try everything on and take pictures of myself, and then go back again after I’ve decided what I looked best in.”
“You don’t have to tell me,” says Lucinda. “I have the exact same problem.”
Gabriela rises gracefully to her feet. “Right,” she says. “Now, let’s decide what you’re wearing tonight. I may even have something that’ll set off that skirt. Don’t you worry. The two of us are going to make the others wish they wanted to be plumbers.” They both laugh. “We’re definitely the team to beat!”
Otto stares out of the tiny window. Glumly. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Otto doesn’t like to fly. Which, of course, is one of the reasons Remedios insisted. She was hoping she would lose him at the airport. That he would chicken out at the last minute or mistakenly get on the wrong plane. The other reason they had to fly was because Remedios wanted to be on the same plane as Gabriela and Beth, in order to put her plan into operation effortlessly, efficiently and quickly – so that it would be done before Otto even knew what it was. But he managed to dither so much that they missed the girls’ flight, and then he stuck to her like a leech. “I hate this. Why couldn’t we just
“Because, unlike you, I’ve always enjoyed flying machines. Even when they were made of muslin and wood.”
He shudders at the thought.
“And besides, Otto, you didn’t have to come with me. You could have met me at the hotel.” Remedios doesn’t lift her gaze from the magazine she’s reading. “It was your choice.”
Some choice. Get on a plane or run the risk of not seeing Remedios for days.
Remedios finally looks up and gives him the kind of smile many painters have associated with the gentle plucking of the strings of a harp. “Besides, I thought it would get us into the spirit of things. I thought this would be more fun.”
“And that’s another thing. Why do we have to fully materialize. Why—”
“Because I thought it would be more fun, too, that’s why.” There’s no way she’s going to Los Angeles disguised as air.
“Well, it’s not fun.” It’s a mistake to think that the cherubic nature is always sweet. “Bailing out a sinking ship with a teaspoon in a monsoon would be more fun than this.”
“I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about.” She leans closer so her mouth is near his ear. “What’s the big deal? So what if we crash? It’s not like you’re going to die, Otto.”
“That’s not the point, Remedios.”
“The point is that this is one of the most insane things humans ever came up with!” This is what he means about people; they never leave things alone. “Soaring around in the sky like birds. Doesn’t it occur to them that they would’ve been born with wings if they were meant to fly?”
“Heavenly hosts, get a grip on yourself. We haven’t even left the ground yet.”
“And I’m not planning to.” He suddenly unsnaps his seat belt. “I’m getting off.”
“You can’t. We’re on the runway. We’re about to take off.”
He straightens the sleeve of his jacket. “I can stop it.”
“And I can stop you stopping it.”
Otto’s smile is more suggestive of Biblical droughts than heavenly choirs. “That could take quite a while.”
The smile is not returned. “I thought we were supposed to be on the same team. Partners.”
“If we’re partners, then I think I have a right to know what you’re planning, Remedios.” He taps the buckle of his seat belt. “That is, unless you want to sit in this plane for the rest of the day. It’s not going to look too good if you bring another airport to a standstill.”
She stifles a sigh. “What makes you think I have a plan?”
“Oh, you have a plan.” Even on so short an acquaintance, Otto has learned that Remedios always has a plan; they’re just rarely any good. “And I’m giving you to the count of three to tell me what it is.”
The engines kick in as the plane starts down the runway.
“One … Two …Three…”
And so, as they gather speed, Remedios tells Otto that all she intends to do is make sure that Beth and Gabriela win their competitions. Beth needs the confidence and Gabriela needs the challenge. “That’s it,” says Remedios. “They’re probably both going to win anyway, I just want to guarantee it. I’m not going to do anything excessive. I’m really just going as insurance.”
Take offs and landings are usually the most stressful parts of air travel, and this is certainly true for Otto. He is, at the moment, in no state to think too deeply or argue too intensely. “That’s it?” he says. “You’re sure?” Usually Remedios shimmers ever so slightly when she’s lying. “You’re telling me the truth?”
With a shudder and a bang, the plane lurches into the air and Otto closes his eyes.
Remedios smiles. “Of course I’m telling you the truth.”
The weekend begins better than it means to proceed
Gabriela and Lucinda’s competition is being run by The City of Angels College of Fashion and Design. The founder and president of the college, Taffeta Mackenzie, was once one of the most famous and highly paid models on the international scene. When it was time to step elegantly off the runway and away from the camera, not only did she start her own studio – the iconic Madagascar – she also decided to use her connections and contacts to open a school, which is now one of the most successful design schools in the country. Tonight’s dinner is for the finalists to meet her and some of her senior staff, but it is also for her to meet them. She didn’t get to be where she is today by letting anyone else control things – not even fate. Which means that, though it may not be strictly ethical, Taffeta will only hand over first prize to someone she is behind two hundred percent. This is not a business that runs on sentiment.
“I’m so nervous,” Lucinda is saying as she and Gabriela near the entrance of the most upmarket of the hotel’s restaurants. She tugs at her skirt and pats her hair. “Do you think she’ll know that I come from the boonies?”
“She knows where you come from, Luce. She’s seen your application.” Gabriela stops and puts an arm around her. “Stop worrying. You look terrific.”
“But Taffeta Mackenzie…” Lucinda takes a deep breath. “I mean … she’s practically a legend. What if she doesn’t like us?”
“Oh, please…” Their reflections shimmer in the immaculate glass doors. What’s not to like? “We’re finalists. That means she already likes us.” Gabriela winks. “We just have to make sure that she likes us the best.” The doors open silently as they reach them. “Look straight ahead and smile like you’re filled with inner serenity,” Gabriela orders, and they glide through.
At a table in the farthest corner of the room they see Taffeta (unmistakable in a floral-print, stretch-satin
