A few days later, Betty headed down to the Closet to see how the primary fitting for the model was going. She also needed help developing a storyline for the shoot. It was proving to be a bit of a more difficult task than she had imagined when she suggested it. Much to her confusion when she arrived, the model was no where to be seen. "Um, Christina, where is she?" Betty asked.
"She? She who?" Christina asked back, carrying one of the red gowns in her arms. She moved into another part of the Closet where Katalina stood on a stool, wearing one of the black dresses.
"She, the model she," Betty answered, following her friend. "Why is Katalina wearing that? You're supposed to be fitting the model!"
Christina hung the dress up on a rack, then turned around. "Oh, you're going to love this Betty. We're actually saving some time by doing this. You see, the model's measurements are nearly exactly the same as Katalina's. She's just a bit on the short side, which is why she's on the stool. So I called up the model and told her not to come, and that everything would fit perfectly when she arrives," the seamstress replied, grinning.
"Isn't it brilliant?" Katalina chimed in as Christina took some material in on the side. "Ow!" she exclaimed when the pin made contact with her skin.
"Oh, sorry about that," Christina apologized.
Betty sat down and watched the two work. "Ok, well, that's great, I guess," she said, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose.
"Aw, should we have made the anorexic little- ow, come up here anyway?" Katalina asked, disappointed that their plan wasn't to Betty's liking.
"What, oh no!" Betty replied, throwing her hands up in the air. "No, it really is great," she assured the other girl.
"But something is wrong," Christina pressed, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Betty. "Well, out with it," she ordered. Katalina hopped off her stool and dragged it over, joining them.
Betty hesitated for a moment, not wanting to burden them with what was clearly her responsibility. But maybe hearing someone else's opinion would help her out. "Ok," she said, giving in. "Daniel is counting on me to come up with a really good story for this photo shoot, since this whole different approach is to...whatever Wilhelmina and it would be embarassing if it didn't go over well, and he needs it now so we can figure out props and location, but I've got nothing," she explained in exasperation. Her shoulders sagged as she sighed.
Christina looked to Katalina. "What?" the assistant asked, blinking.
"You're the one with the creative genius we're always lacking, so get creative," the older woman prompted.
"Ooooh. Ok," Katalina replied, smiling. She adopted her thinking pose, tapping her nose with her right forefinger. "Story, story, story." The heel of her palm collided with her forehead a couple of times as she waited for something to pop into her head. She stood up and began pacing, the train of the gown bunching behind her. Christina followed after her, picking it up so as not to ruin it. "Story...
"Every story, tale or memoir, every saga or romance. Whether true or fabricated, whether planned of happenstance. Whether sweeping through the ages, casting centuries aside. Or a hurried brief recital, just a thirty minute ride. Whether bright or melancholy, rough and ready, finely spun. Whether with a thousand players, or a lonely cast of one. Every story new or ancient, bagatelle or work of art. All are tales of human failing, all are tales of love at heart," she sang, searching for inspiration in the first song she could think of that contained the word story.
Betty jumped up out of her seat after the last line. "Katalina, that's it! You really are a genius!" she cried.
"I am, aren't I," the other girl agreed, giggling.
"Yes, don't you see?" Betty asked, grabbing her upper arms. "A love story! It's brilliant. But it will be more than a love story, since the dresses are red and black," she explained, the wheels in her brain meshing perfectly.
Christina caught on quickly. "Oh, oh, yes! It can have a dramatic title, like, like..."
"Red is the color of your love. Black is the color of your desire."
Christina and Betty stopped their babbling and turned to face Katalina. They grinned happily before babbling some more. Katalina grinned too, glad that she could help. She tilted her head to the side as she listened to them discussing backgrounds and the need for a male model and other things. A few minutes later they hurried over to Christina's desk so Betty could get a notepad to write down all of their ideas.
"Daniel is going to be so happy," she gushed. "Oh, thank you, Katalina," she said, giving the other girl a hug before scurrying off to the elevator.
"Er, you're welcome," Katalina called after her.
"You seem a bit out of it," Christina observed, helping her out of the black dress and into the red one. She was obviously referring to when her assistant hadn't jumped right in with some harebrained idea. "Are you getting enough sleep?" she asked, lacing the dress up.
Katalina nodded. "It might have been because of my dream last night," she said, standing up a little straighter. "I woke up this morning a little depressed."
"Depressed?" her boss echoed. "You?"
"Mhm. It's like...I felt like I lost something in my dream, and it made me really sad when I woke up," she explained.
Christina's brow furrowed. "Hm. Well I hope you find whatever you lost tonight," she said, standing with her hands on her hips.
Her assistant laughed. "If only it worked that way," she replied, flouncing off to go look at herself in the mirror.
"What a handful," Christina muttered for the umpteenth time, shaking her head.