"Whoa," Jimmy said, looking up at the Mott home from the driver's seat of Adeline's pickup truck.
"Hey Adda, you think-" Jimmy scowled when he turned to look at her and realized Adeline was no longer sitting in the passenger's seat. She had hopped out of the truck, and by the time Jimmy had registered the click of her door as it shut, she was rummaging around in the truck bed for her things. He got out himself, leaving the door open.
"Coulda waited for me to help you," he grumbled, standing across from her and grabbing the handle on her portable record player, hauling it out.
She tucked her enormous, half circle, flat black velvet sleeve under her arm and picked up her wicker train case with emerald green leather trim, walking around back of the truck to stand next to Jimmy.
"Sorry. I got it." She said, reaching her other hand for the record player.
"Don't you have your hands full?" He asked. What he intended was to walk her to the door, to establish his presence so that those in the house would be aware of it.
"I said I got it!" she said, laughing and jutting her hand out again to emphasize her desire for the record player. He reluctantly handed it over, shaking his head again.
"I still don't like this." He griped.
Adeline smiled, tipping her head to the side empathetically.
"I know, which is why I appreciate your help, despite your reservations."
"I guess I'll go make myself scarce, then," Jimmy said, weakly.
Adeline grimaced. "She said you can park around back. It doesn't matter so much about the truck, she said there are people here for one thing or another all the time, just….stay out of sight, I guess, since he'd know something's up if he sees you. I'm supposed to be a surprise." She made a silly shocked face, her mouth a comical O shape.
Jimmy frowned "Where is he, anyway?"
"Barber's, his mother said, and then he usually goes to get something at the candy shop downtown. Enough time for me to set up."
"Jesus," Jimmy said.
Adeline laughed, more at the look of disgust on Jimmy's face than anything else. "See you in three hours?" She asked.
"Yeah, all right. How do I know if you're….in trouble?"
"Stay near the house? I can fill an over packed tent with nothing but the sound my voice, you'll hear me if I'm in trouble." She gave him a reassuring smile.
Jimmy nodded, accepting this. "Okay. Just…be careful?"
Adeline nodded. "Always."
With a last longing glance in her direction, Jimmy got into the truck and turned around the drive, driving the truck down the lane leading back around to the side of the house.
Adeline walked up the few steps to the door, and extended a finger in her white wrist length gloves to ring the doorbell.
When the door opened, a woman in a maid's uniform stood before her, and she labored with the second doors, a set of barred glass ones.
"Much as they may need it, nobody in this house is going to be buying any bibles today, child…"
Adeline was confused. This was the right house, was it not? Perhaps her clothing was misleading. She had chosen an ivory afternoon dress, damask printed in dark navy blue, with a crinoline underneath, and a matching three quarter length navy cardigan. She had worn simple navy ballet flats, and left her hair loosely pinned up in such a way as to allow her to pull the single pin mid-performance and shake out the pin curl waves she had set the night before. She hadn't yet painted on her carnelian lipstick, not wishing to smudge it on her costume or her dress, but certainly her dramatic lashes and black liquid winged eyeliner could have given her away.
The woman's mouth was open as though she were going to continue, when Adeline heard the sound of Mrs. Mott's voice echoing through the foyer behind the atrium outside which Adeline stood.
"Doooraaa!" She called. She fluttered into the atrium in a rather affected manner, but Adeline couldn't help but smile when the woman beamed at her. "This is our guest. From the…" she spoke softly "freak show." Gloria turned her attention back to Adeline and Dora stepped out of the way to allow her to enter. "Come in, dear….don't you look lovely!"
Adeline followed Gloria as she passed from the atrium into the front hall, speaking to her as they walked.
"Thank you! I brought my costume, so If I could change…"
"Of course, dear!" Gloria replied. "I'll take you straight up to a guest room. This way, please…" She reached out fluidly as they passed by to scoop up a thick, rectangular ivory envelope off of a table accented by an enormous flower arrangement placed in the center.
She followed the woman up the spiral staircase, her heart hammering. Gloria swept down a hallway at one of the landings and breezed through a doorway into an exquisitely decorated, spacious bedroom.
"Here you are. Come and find me when you've finished, and I'll show you to the playroom!" She exclaimed brightly.
"Oh, and this is for you!" She handed Adeline the envelope and the girl took it with a gracious nod.
Adeline placed her things down beside an armchair upholstered in sumptuous fabric and nodded, smiling at Mrs. Mott.
When Gloria had departed, closing the door behind her, Adeline opened the envelope, pulling out a stack of fresh, crisp hundred dollar bills. A little pale blue notecard of heavy linen stock was inside, with simply the words 'Thank You!" written in beautiful script thereupon. She counted softly to herself "1, 2, 3, 4, 5….13, 14, 15…good." She opened and set up her train case on the footrest belonging to the armchair and tucked the envelope into a secret compartment, then set about undressing. Checking to be certain the shades were closed, she removed everything she had been wearing, stockings, garters, and all, arranging them neatly on the armchair. She reached carefully into the train case and pulled out her costume, a stunning, strapless leotard, modestly squared off at the bottom in both the front and the back. The entire piece was lovingly and intricately decorated with patterned beadwork, thousands of gold and white beads covering almost every inch of the gold silk itself. At her hips, hundreds of strings of beads dripped off the costume in varied lengths, ending at the straight hem of the costume at the very top of her thighs. She stepped into it, shimmying it up with a rattle of the beading, and secured her ample chest inside, fastening the corset like straps on the open side that she needed to control her top half while she was performing. She reached down by her hip and zipped up the nearly invisible zipper all the way up her left side, admiring herself in a full-length mirror in the corner of the room, swaying back and forth for the pleasure of watching the beads swing. She found her carnelian lip paint and her brush, and, seated at the vanity in the bedroom, with her right elbow perched on the tabletop to keep it steady, she painted her full lips with practiced precision. She checked her makeup, minimal due to the fact that she wasn't going to be under stage lighting, with the exception of her eyelashes, which she had liberally brushed with mascara. She sighed, a sickening fluttering feeling in her chest, and spoke softly to her reflection. "Showtime."
She made her way back down the stairs, in a pair of ballet slippers and her peach robe, her enormous black velvet sleeve still tucked under her arm, the handle on the portable record player in her hand.
"Mrs. Mott?" She called.
"In here, dear!" Came the call, and Adeline headed in the proper direction. She hurried across the front hall and pushed at a swinging door, finding herself in the prep kitchen. Mrs. Mott was seated at an island, across from the housekeeper, who was frosting cupcakes.
"Would you…approve my costume?" Adeline asked. She felt certain the woman would be honest with her.
"Of course, dear, let's have a look!" Gloria turned to face Adeline, who leaned her velvet sleeve against a marble topped prep table and placed the record player beside it. She dropped the robe, draping it over her forearm as she spun, slowly and self-consciously in place. When she faced them once again, the housekeeper had an alarmed look on her face, her brows halfway up her forehead, her eyes unbelievably wide. Gloria was smiling but looking dazed, and Adeline was ready to panic. All Dandy's mother could think about, looking at the girl, was her dear boy's terrible lack of impulse control, and she was stranded somewhere between pride in believing she had just found Dandy the playmate of his dreams, and the feeling of dread that accompanied her acceptance of the inevitable. She stood, smiling.
"It's perfect! I'll show you to the playroom!"
Adeline hastily threw her robe back on and tucked the sleeve under her arm, snatching up her record player, leaving her robe sash untied as she hurried after Gloria. They arrived at the same landing that the guest room was on, and Gloria turned down a smaller hallway, stopping on her right to push two doors open and glide inside, declaring
"This is Dandy's playroom!"
Adeline looked around, and despite the plethora of stuffed animals arranged here and there, the room looked much like what she had expected…. exercise equipment, a croquet pitch, a pair of chests, and, among other small furnishings, a silk upholstered bench…and a small stage. A little smile played on her face. This would do just fine.
"Do you have everything you need?" Gloria asked hopefully.
Adeline nodded, heading towards one of the mirrored doors by the stage….
"This leads?"
"Oh, up to the stage, of course!" Gloria tittered.
Adeline placed the sleeve atop the stage, and then opened the door, going up the steps and around back stage, easily locating an outlet into which she plugged in the record player, setting it up out of sight behind the curtain, resting the records she had brought with her beside it in a neat pile. She flipped a switch and ducked her head out, happy to see she had turned the floor lights of the stage on. Mrs. Mott was peering up expectantly at her and Adeline smiled.
"I think I'm all right. I'm going to close the curtains and move that bench back towards the pitch so I'll have room on the floor, if that's all right."
"Oh yes, dear, whatever you need. Now, Dandy should be home within the hour and I'll bring him up to see you as soon as he gets home."
Adeline nodded, the knot in her stomach suddenly tightening. "Okay."
As Gloria breezed out, Adeline took of her ballet slippers and her robe and folded it neatly, storing it beside the record player with the slippers in the pocket. Then she took the stairs out to the floor again and closed all the shades, two by two, until the room was in a general state of darkness, with the exception of the lights shining brightly on the stage. She grouped those stuffed animals in the way together in charming groups on either side of the stage, out of the way. She pushed the bench backwards, examining the amount of space she had on the floor. Satisfied, she went back up onto the stage and closed the door behind her. She knelt in front of the velvet sleeve and unzipped it, taking out first a decorated, weighted gold hoop, and then, very carefully, first one half circle feather fan and then the other. All white ostrich wing feathers, they were triple layered for effect. They measured fifty two by twenty eight inches, arranged in a seashell arc, beaded in gold at the center of the flat side where she pinched them in her hands as she moved them. She arranged them the way she'd need them when she went to pick them up in performance, and, taking her hoop and the sleeve with her, went back stage, where she discarded the sleeve and descended the stairs, going to stretch and practice before the guest of honor arrived.
When Adeline heard Gloria's shrill voice, drawing nearer and alternating with that of a young man she assumed must be Dandy, she hurried through the stage door to get into place. Happily settled, she listened carefully to what was being said, attempting to make out the words
"But Dandy, this is different, the person I hired is a professional…. you…"
He burst through the playroom door, nearly shouting, Gloria trailing anxiously behind him.
"I told you, mother, no more supri…" then he saw Adeline"….ses."
She sat at the very center of the stage, one of her legs threaded between the stage lights, the other crossed over it, toes pointed. Each of her hands were flattened on the stage floor on each side of her, her head tipped to the side, pretty face lit by the stage lights.
Adeline couldn't see him very well in the darkness of the playroom, especially with the light in her eyes, and only the peripheral vision of her right eye to rely upon. But she heard the marked change in his voice, now softer, tender, with a hint of wonder about it as he asked
"What's this?"
"This is Adeline, darling! She-"
"Get out, mother!" He snapped. "You're…. interrupting us."
Gloria left without a word. Dandy and Adeline were alone.