Tuesday 21st of February 2012.
Cruella woke up to Alonzo knocking at her door.
''What is it?'' she demanded.
''It is 8 o'clock, I made you some tea.'' he said, a little unsure.
She sat up in her bed and told him to come in.
He placed the tea on her nightstand and proceeded on to draw the curtains. The room was filled with light and they could see that they had a lot to do today, the room was filled, inches with dust and filth as a result from over 20 years of neglect.
Cruella lit up a cigarette and took a sip from her tea before getting out of bed. She was now standing in front of Alonzo in only her nightgown. Alonzo excused himself while covering his eyes like he had just seen her naked, and left the room pretty quickly.
Cruella opened her closet to see if there were anything there to wear that wasn't too out of style.
She found a timeless little black dress, red tights, black pumps, and of course, the huge yellow mink coat!
She went over to the big victorian vanity mirror, pondering on wether to cut her hair or keep the length. She called for Alonzo.
''ALONZO!'' she screamed.
Alonzo came running as fast as he could.
''Yes madam. What is wrong?'' He asked, while breathing heavily from running up the long stairs.
''Should I cut my hair or keep the length?'' she asked.
Alonzo analyzed the situation before answering. He didn't want to be responsible for 'ruining' her hair. He knew he would be held responsible if he answered wrong.
He noticed that she was brushing it while at the same time trying to make it voluminous, so he only said what he felt was right.
''I think you should trim the ends and keep the length. And if you are unhappy with it, you could always cut it short!'' he said, thinking that it was a pretty good save.
Cruella nodded in agreement and kept on brushing her hair.
''Oh, Alonzo, do you know where my makeup is? Did you bring it?'' She asked.
''Yes I brought it, but I am not sure if it would be such a good idea to use 12 year old makeup.'' he said hesitantly.
Cruella looked down at the floor, pondering on what she was going to do. She looked in the drawer of the vanity mirror and found a fuchsia colored lipstick. She applied it to her hand to see if it was useable.
It broke in half like a chalk stick without even leaving a trace of color.
''Alonzo! Drive to town and pick up some makeup for me!'' she demanded in a calm way.
Cruella told him where she had put her money.
Alonzo nodded and went out to the car and drove off.
Cruella got her hair done, she made a big bun at the top of her head, one side black, the other side white. She wasn't rusty at all, she just as good as she was 12 years ago!She added on black and white pearl earrings and a matching necklace. She got dressed and went downstairs to see if there were anything to eat. She was looking forward to eating something other than dried up, crusty old jail food. She didn't find anything.
She was getting impatient with Alonzo. Where was he?
Just when she was about to go outside to check, he came through the doors, carrying a big M.A.C bag.
She walked over and snatched the bag out of his hands and went upstairs to 'put on her face'.
Thirty minutes later she came down stairs looking as young as she did 12 years ago. 'It is amazing what makeup can do' Alonzo thought to himself.
Cruella opened a drawer in the hall to find one of her trademark red smoke sticks.
She walked out to the car, leaving Alonzo behind to clean and fix the house.
Cruella was approaching her work place, more excited than ever!
She stopped at the end of the outside stairs, got out of the car and looked up at the big building.
There it was, the sign still said 'House of De Vil'. It was amazing, after all these years, her Plaza was still standing tall!
Cruella went up the stairs fondling her handbag to find the keys to the building.
When she realized that they were in the handbag that she left behind in Paris 12 years ago, she almost threw a fit. She was enraged. She had to find a damn pay-phone so she could call Alonzo. He had an extra pair of keys as he was her assistant/servant back then. She was only praying that he still had them!
She had to break her three rules of lifestyle;
1. Never use public transport.
2. Never eat in public.
3. Never use a pay-phone!
Well, she had been breaking just about every other rule she had ever made. So why stop now? She had to admit defeat to herself. She felt like this would bring down her whole entire day!
She made her way down the stairs and down the streets, looking for a pay-phone. When she finally found one she realized that she didn't have any change. That one little detail made her go crazy. She rushed into the nearest small-shop, bought a pack of cigarettes and asked for small change back.
She wanted to vomit at the thought of touching the 'phone of a homeless person', but it had to be done if she was ever going to get in to 'House of De Vil'.
This was all thanks to those DAMN dalmatians. This would haven never happened if it weren't for those wretched, wretched imbeciles! If she ever saw a dalmatian spot ever again, she would die. She was sure of it!
Alonzo heard his cell phone ringing downstairs. He dropped the vacuum cleaner and ran downstairs.
''Hello?'' Alonzo started.
''Alonzo! I need your keys to the plaza! You still have them right!'' she demanded.
''Yes but they are at my home'' he stuttered.
''Well where the heck do you live?'' she yelled.
''Just outside London.'' he said.
''ARGH! I will come back to pick you up. You better be ready and standing outside when I get there!'' she screamed and threw the phone into the box, leaving it dangling.
When she turned around she saw that lady again that she had met outside the magazine shop the day before.
''I knew it was you!'' the lady said.
Cruella yelled 'get lost' and rushed past her and nearly threw herself into the car!
Alonzo and Cruella was walking up the path to his home. It was a tiny little two-story house with a small garden. It reminded her of a grandmothers home. She was disgusted.
''Alonzo! I will wait in the car, hurry up!'' she demanded and rushed down the path.
When she got in the car she lit a cigarette. She had only waited for about 10 seconds when she honked the horn, over and over. She rolled down her window and screamed for him. Then she honked the horn some more. She had only waited one minute when she got out of the car and rushed up the path to his house and opened the door. She saw a cup of coffee sitting on a table in the hallway. She threw her cigarette butt in it.
''ALONZO!'' she yelled.
Alonzo answered her telling her that he'd be right there. Truth was that he couldn't find the keys. He was scared of what she might do to him if she found out.
Cruella was feeling very uneasy in that tiny tiny house, she almost felt claustrophobic. While yelling one more time at him she knocked over a vase, and it fell to the ground and smashed into a million bits. among the ruins she saw a keyring with HDV engraved into it.
''ALONZO, YOU IDIOT, I FOUND THE KEYS!'' She yelled and rushed out of the house and down the path.
Alonzo ran out the door.
Cruella honked the horn as soon as she sat down in the car.
Alonzo came running down the path, he almost fell on his face.
Cruella was impatient.
After dropping Alonzo off at her mansion, she continued in to London. She was eager to get in to the plaza.
She wanted to look at what needed to be done for her to start working again!
She needed to work. Fashion was everything for Cruella!
She finally got the key in the door. Her heart were pumping so fast, she thought she was going to faint!
When she got in the building she was amazed at how dusty it had gotten. It was like stepping in to a ghost building! She didn't care though. Nothing could scare Cruella!
She made her way over to the elevator, trying to push the 'up' button it dawned on her that here were no electricity there, as the building was permanently closed 'until further notice'. What would she do now? She was NOT going to walk all those stairs to the top floor.
''Hmm, I wonder…'' she said to herself.
She walked over to the reception desk and found the building map.
Exactly what she thought, there was a main power switch at the back of the building.
She had problems seeing as all the windows were covered with paper. But she managed to make her way to the back of the building. At the small back-reception she saw a fuse cabinet. She opened it and instantly got confused. There were over a hundred fuses, buttons and switches. She tried her luck with the big red one.
''Fabulous!'' she said when all the lights turned on.
She walked back to the main entrance of the building and tried her luck with the elevator again. This time it worked like a charm.
She couldn't believe her own eyes when she got to the top floor. there were mannequins at every post and they all had finished and unfinished garments on them. Nothing were stored away, nothing were cleaned, and nothing had been taken care of.
''They fled the building the instant they heard I was in prison.'' She was appalled.
She went in to her old office, tore off the paper from the windows and sat down in her chair.
''I am home! This time for good! I am never leaving you again!'' she said while smiling and laughing.