Val found a note from Karen saying they had gone on their shopping spree. She had a few hours to herself and loved the idea of having some rare alone time. After drying her hair, she put a few Carmen rollers in the right places, then looked through the things in her closet. She wanted to look special, but not too planned. She wanted to wear something soft, yet felt funny about looking too feminine. She didn’t want that to be an issue.
That’s a new one. I’ve never been worried about looking too feminine before. I mustn’t think like that. He loves me, for me. Damn. How stupid can I get?
She looked at her clothes and wished she looked like Karen in pants.
The velvet pants are good. But I have nothing to go with them. Valerie Rhodes, relax. Shoes, no boots. Okay that’s a start. The maxi skirt would work with the purple turtleneck and the vest with the fringe.
She put it all on, hated it, and tore it off. She tried the velvet pants with the purple sweater.
Okay, that’s not bad. Understated yet good colors for me. Now the lousy boots don’t go. Damn. I have to wear them. It’s all a mess. I’m a mess. Maybe some makeup will help.
She went to Karen’s dressing room. The lines of shoes and clothes looked like a department store and she was envious for a moment. She sat down at the dressing table, faced herself in the mirror, and started to paint her face.
They say, the first sign of going crazy is when you talk to yourself and then answer. So Valerie Rhodes, let me be the first to greet you with the news. You are now going mad.
She started to carry on a conversation with herself.
“That wasn’t hard was it?”
“No, I suppose not. I don’t feel that different.”
“You don’t look it either.”
“This is fun. Crazy or not, I’m having fun!”
“Convince me.”
“You know, you are easy to talk to. Why haven’t we spoken before?”
“That’s your fault.”
“Now look, let’s not have a blame game on our first visit.”
“You’re right. Sorry about that.”
“Okay, now the artiste has to get to work. A little powder and paint makes a girl what she ain’t.”
“You know you’re quite pretty. In fact not just pretty; that’s too ordinaire a word. You are extremely attractive. Yes that’s it. Look at how many of the people you’ve met find you attractive. I bet you could have anyone you wanted. Out of all of them, who turns you on?”
“If I tell you will you promise not to breathe a word?”
“Okay, I promise.”
“Out of all the people I’ve met, the only one I find exciting in a sexual way is Karen.”
“Valerie Rhodes, you don’t mean it!”
“Isn’t that wild? Shit!”
She had poked mascara in her eye. She grabbed a Kleenex and noticed the time. It was broken down into digital seconds on Karen’s new-fangled clock.
“Well, it won’t be long now.”
She took out her rollers and brushed her hair. They both had to admit the reflection in the mirror wasn’t half bad, considering…
“I need a drink. No, one of those little yellow jobbies really sounds good.”
She went into Karen’s bathroom and looked in the medicine chest. They weren’t there. She went to the living room. It was still a mess from the night before. It hadn’t occurred to any of them to clean, they were so used to the magic of maids. She did pick up a few glasses, then poured herself a brandy. She hated the taste of booze, but loved the warm feeling brandy gave her. Music, maybe she needed music. No, she couldn’t go through choosing a record, and the tapes were heavy dance music. She tried the TV, switching from channel to channel until she found an old movie starring her favorite actress, Carole Lombard, in some wonderful farce.
“Now look at her: not really beautiful when you take her apart feature by feature. But all together? The living end.”
As far as Val was concerned, Lombard had it all. She could have you in tears in one role, then be fabulous in a comedy with her expert timing in the next. Val would love to have the chance to show her range as an actress like that. She was totally engrossed in the movie when Karen and Zaria barged in weighted down with packages.
“You are a dream, my love. You must live in purple. It’s your color. Zee, dump all that in the bedroom. Val, you must come and see what we bought you.”
“Me? You bought me something?”
“I think it’s fabulous. Come on, switch that thing off.”
Val left her movie and solitude and followed Karen into the bedroom.
“Can I have one of those yellow jobbies? I’m still a bit of a wreck.”
“Florence has something better for you. You want to be up and jolly don’t you?”
Karen didn’t wait for an answer. She brought out the coke.
“Now this, my love will put you on the right level.”
“I’ve never done it before, do you think I should?”
“I wouldn’t steer you wrong, precious. Follow me and the super Ms. Zee.”
They each sniffed two lines of coke.
“What am I supposed to feel like?”
“Like you rule the world, with enough energy left over to rule the rest of the planets out there.”
“Uck, I just swallowed it. It tastes horrible.”
Karen and Zaria got a kick out of that.
Zaria informed her, dramatically. “You vill learn to love zis taste.”
Val touched her two front teeth. “Do your front teeth feel numb like when you’re at the dentist? Really, they feel numb.”
“You’re getting there. Relax. It’s time to see our purchases of the day.”
A mountain of Pucci underwear appeared on the bed.
“The salesladies in the stores thought we were quite mad when I insisted on buying every pair of size four Pucci panties.”
Karen was on a high, talking a mile a minute.
“Now for you, my dear, a special little something. A must-have for every young girl about to face her first winter in New York City.”
Out of a profusion of purple tissue paper filling a box with Bergdorf Goodman written all over it, a little fur jacket appeared. It was black mink designed to look like a bomber jacket, with a zipper up the front and two slanted zip pockets at the side. Val was overwhelmed. Her voice was so quiet, they could hardly hear her.
“You’re not serious. I can’t accept something like this. Karen, it’s totally outrageous!”
“That is the perfect description! It is outrageous and so are you and so am I and so is Zee. Put it on immediately. I hope it fits. It looked small enough. The saleslady knew you from TV and said you would look fantastic in it.”
“You told the people in the shop it was for me?”
“Why not? They knew it wasn’t for either of us, and the lady in the fur department at Bergdorf has known me for years. She was thrilled it was for you.”
Val put it on. It fit as though it had been made for her. She ran to the full-length mirror and modeled it.
“Oh, it’s so gorgeous. I’m lost for words. All I can say is thank you. I can’t think of anything original. Thank you. Thank you.”
She ran over to Karen and kissed her. Karen did her impression of Groucho Marx.
“Well if a little mink jacket gets a kiss, what will a full-length coat get?”
“I don’t want to take it off.”
“Then don’t. I’ll turn down the heat, and we’ll all put on furs!”
“Oh, Karen you really are fabulous.”
Their moment was interrupted by the door buzzer. They all stopped in their tracks.
Val whispered. “Oh my God, Nicky’s here!”
For some reason this struck them all as funny. Laughing madly and trying to be quiet wasn’t easy. They had to decide who was going to open the door. All fingers pointed to Karen. The buzzer went again. Zaria disappeared into the bedroom, Val ran into the her room, and Karen walked to the door vowing never to be without a maid, ever again. Val looked in the mirror, quickly put a brush through her hair, and glanced at herself in the jacket. She took it off, looked again, then said “fuck it” and put it back on. She walked out into the hall, and there he was. Her legs felt like jelly. Karen stood behind him smiling. Val couldn’t move.
“Val. Baby.”
Nicky’s voice sounded serious. He came to her, took her in his arms, and held her close. They stood there like that. In silence. Holding each other. It felt so good. She had to look up to see his face and when she did, they kissed. Then they really kissed.
Perfect. It was all just perfect.
Funny thing was, all three people standing in Karen’s foyer thought the scene being played out before them was perfect. Each for their own reason.
Karen was on a high.
He’s here. That’s good. He did just as I told him. That’s very good. He’s scared. That’s even better.
Val was in her own world.
He’s here! That’s good. I feel safe in his arms. That’s wonderful. Nothing else matters. That’s the truth!
Nicky’s head was working overtime.
I’m here. That’s good. I’ll make it look good in front of that cunt. No problem. This one’s for me. No shit! Sorry, Val. That’s the breaks.