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Still shiny from the shower, Cheryl led Darcy to Luisa's room after checking to see the hall was empty. They decided to call out for pizza. Darcy had seen it in commercials for years. She had always wondered if it really tasted as good as it was made to seem. Now she was going to find out. They asked her what kind she liked.
"Whatever you like," she said. "It makes no difference to me."
They ordered two.
Luisa was relieved that Darcy had stayed in all day. She brought the ominous news that posters of the "missing person" kind had been put up in the student center and around campus, featuring a fairly decent picture of her, looking wan and dazed. Luisa had one of the posters with her that she had liberated from the theater building.
Darcy recognized the booth in the interrogation room in El Paso where they had taken her fingerprints. Her heart sank once again. These people badly wanted her back, and here she was, practically out in the open and ripe for the grabbing, in effect.
"Woo!" said Cheryl, impressed. "You’re famous, girl! What can we do, Lou?"
"I've been thinking about that," replied Luisa. "I have an idea. After we eat, let's call Mandy and see what we can come up with."
The pizza was stupendous, or maybe it was just her hunger, but Darcy couldn't remember eating with more pleasure. She had to restrain herself from eating more than her share, though Cheryl and Luisa cheerfully allowed her all she could eat. She was stuffed. She decided she loved mozzarella.
Luisa telephoned Mandy and asked her if she could help them on a "professional matter" requiring "some secrecy." In a few minutes, the pink-haired girl from the previous night appeared at the door, looking decidedly more interested than she had the night before.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Hey," Luisa greeted her. "Did you see those posters about Darcy on campus today?" Mandy nodded, wide-eyed.
"You didn't tell anyone you'd seen her, did you, like I asked you not to?"
Mandy shook her head slowly. She loved secrets. A conspiracy was even better—a finger in someone's eye, no matter who, what could be better?
"OK, good," Luisa went on. "We need to disguise Darcy. Who better than you?"
She turned to Darcy.
"Mandy is a theater major like me. She does all our stage makeup. She's great with it! She can make you into a little old lady, if that's what is needed!"
She looked out the blinds.
"OK, it's pretty dark now. Let's ease over to the drama building and see what we can find in the costume room."
Two hours later, Darcy had been replaced by a young Hispanic girl with black braids and a darker, less angular face. She was equipped with a backpack, but instead of books it contained a small selection of skirts, pants, shirts, wigs, makeup, and selected accessories. Mandy made her practice walking more slowly and self-consciously.
The change felt remarkable. For the first time in days she almost felt at ease. As a test to give her a little confidence they walked to the student center and bought soft drinks and sat around a table with other students all around them. Several gave her a second glance, and one young man gave her a third glance.
"Woo-hoo!" exulted Cheryl when they got back to the room. "That was cool! Mandy, you really are a genius!"
Mandy beamed. It was true. She regarded her work closely.
"I'll lend you a textbook on stage makeup. You'll be able to change your appearance to suit yourself. You're the perfect person for it. You can be young, old, Hispanic, Caucasian, even male if you want."
Darcy blushed under her new makeup. Mandy was buxom as a movie star, and Darcy was the opposite. She knew the culture she was in the middle of seemed to prize magnitude, pectorally speaking, and up to now she had imagined she was supposed to feel deficient in that area. But maybe instead she was fortunate.
She smiled. A man! If it came to that, so be it. No one was looking for a man!
