Natasha figured that if she wanted to lure Henry into fathering her child, she would need to be a little less weird.
The first thing to go was the saris. She piled them all into a heap in the back yard -- including the purple one she bought last summer in Rawalpishni -- and was about to douse them in gasoline, when she thought: fabric art. She threw them all into a bag and set them aside for a future project.
Next, the other clothes. Baggy sweatshirts were definitely out. Natasha rummaged around in her dresser and found a rakish black armless shirt that showed off her ample cleavage. She pulled on a pair of short cutoff jeans, and checked herself in the mirror.
She wrinkled her nose. "Fat", she thought, but then dismissed the thought. Henry won't mind, she figured. Men like their women ripe.
Meanwhile, Amanda Dennis sat in the Cafe Venice and sipped her spearmint bubble tea. Amanda is tall, taller than Molly and most of the boys in Beauneville Latin. Like Molly, she has blonde hair and wears it long; unlike Molly, she is large in the hips -- not so large to be considered fat, but large enough that you suspect she does not spend a lot of time on the beach in a thong.
Amanda is the self-appointed social chronicler of Beauneville Latin's junior class through her blog, Cries and Whispers. She is not a gossip; there is nothing malicious or spiteful about her interest. She simply makes it her business to know about the social goings on among her classmates: who is dating whom, who and who are a number, and what happened last Saturday night behind the juice bar at the Stapleton Bowl-a-Drome. Where connections, social networks and hoo-hah are concerned, Amanda knows all.
She sat up and craned her neck. Outside the cafe, and across the street, she saw Roderick walking with that gorgeous new girl from Sweden with the braids. They paused, and chatted briefly, then Roderick headed off toward the boathouse. Amanda noticed that the new girl watched him walk away. Interesting.
Bibi crossed the street, opened the door to the Cafe, stepped inside and stood there, looking a little lost. Amanda seized the opportunity and pounced.
"Hi, you're new in town, aren't you? I'm Amanda."
Bibi beamed. "Ya, ya, I am Bibi!". She stared at the menu. "In Sveden, ve trink ze hot lingonberry tea, ya?"
Amanda whispered something to the barista, who produced a steaming hot cup of lingonberry tea. Actually, it was regular tea with a little red food coloring in it, but who's to know? Bibi gratefully accepted the cup and sat with Amanda.
"So I see you've met Roderick".
Bibi sipped her tea. "Ya, ya, he ees ferry nice, ya. He likes ze massage, ze sauna, ze hot tub... but ze Americans, zey like ze clothings too much, ya?" Bibi burst out laughing at this thought. Amanda laughed, too, and scribbled a few notes in her notepad.
Bibi leaned forward. "I zlept over at Roderick's and ze next day I go down to keetchen to get ze breakvast, ya? And ze Smeeths, zey look at me like hey, zey do not zee naked girl zo much! Not like Sveden!" Bibi could hardly contain herself.
Suddenly, Amanda looked up. Outside, and across the street, she saw Natasha walking on Main Street and...she wasn't wearing a sari. "Excuse me", she said to Bibi, dashed out the door of the cafe and across the street.
"Hi, Natasha", said Amanda, hugging Natasha with faux warmth.
"Hi", said Natasha, suspiciously. She didn't feel as if her peers at Beaunevile Latin had welcomed her with open arms. Of course, the unusual dress, strange interests and propensity to spend most of her waking hours in the studio didn't help. And then there was the small matter of personal hygiene which, to be honest, is not Natasha's strong suit. Roderick doesn't mind, actually -- he kind of likes a girl with genuine body odor -- but others are less tolerant.
Amanda, for one, has a sharp nose. She can tell, for example, purely with her olfactory organ, which girls are currently in their fertile time of the month and which are, well, not.
"Love your shirt", said Amanda, pinching the fabric slightly near Natasha's right shoulder. "Is this from the Gap?"
"Oh, this", said Natasha, looking down at her shirt. "I don't remember. It was in my dresser this morning, that's all".
Amanda looked Natasha up and down -- long black hair, azure eyes, prominent cleavage, bronze skin showing between shirt bottom and pants top, exposed legs -- and thought: "This girl is on the prowl".
Bibi joined them, and greeted Natasha. "My bruzzer, he like ze peecture you draw vizout ze clothings, ya? He says you make look zo beeg heez...how you zay een Eenglish...heez manly theeng?" She whispered something to Amanda, who whispered something back. They both burst out in hysterical laughing.
Natasha smiled. "Well, I'm off to Zeppelin's". Bibi burst out laughing at the word "Zeppelin". Amanda smiled, but didn't get what was funny.
Meanwhile, at the boathouse, Roderick sat with Megan Cupcake on the edge of the dock, their legs dangling over the water. They chatted. Megan observed, casually, that her parents were away in Stapleton that evening and she had that big old lonely house to herself. Roderick observed, casually, that it was a shame she was by herself, and would she perhaps want some company? Just casual of course. Megan opined, very casually, that perhaps she wouldn't mind a little company and perhaps he would stop by for just a teensy little bit. All very casual of course.
Molly banged away on the Bosendorfer, furiously, inspired by the contents of a letter, which lay open on the dining room table.
