GET PREGNANT FOR FREE ON iTunes NOW!!!!!!! [chapter fifteen continues: Enter Mrs. Coliche] As Michelle walked by the first editing station, she saw an image of herself flash on the screen. It made her shiver, like her dad used to say, as if someone had walked on her grave. She had come in to the Sixteenth Street studio for a daily regurgitation session. The official title was video diary. As usual, she went into a small room, by herself, sat down in front of a sort of automatic camera and pushed a button. These visits to the video confessional were required of all the contestants. What they said was up to them, but they knew that their thoughts and reactions could be used on the show. Michelle had no idea what the other contestants—including Edouard—used this outlet for, but she kept her comments church-bulletin safe, recounting show events and making supportive statements about the other contestants. No personal feelings, nothing but the blandest porridge about her family. After she took care of that chore, Michelle wanted to find Jock, to tell him that she had heard that Paula was filing for a divorce from Mark. It was a small trial balloon she’d agreed to run for Paula. She assumed Jock would be over in the new editing office next door, and followed the walkway past planters and a massive bougainvillea bush to that entrance. The large room was made into a half-dozen cubicles separated by chest-high upholstered partitions. That’s when Michelle got that shiver of recognition, almost like remembering a dream, and she paused and glanced over. A girl who looked about twelve was fast forwarding through a scene. That was not unusual. Somebody was always fiddling with the video. The images jumping past on the screen showed herself and Edouard… and Pepe. Michelle howled. “Jock!” His head popped up from an adjacent cubicle. The editing girl glanced at Michelle and clicked something. The image on the screen froze: Michelle in mid-snarl. “What is this?” Michelle pointed at the monitor. She didn’t bother trying to control her volume or her anger. He had really gone too far this time, the little scumwort. “Hi, Michelle.” Jock smiled, walking around the corner of the cubicle to her. He glanced at the screen, and let out an exaggerated sigh. “This is why we really prefer that talent stay out of the editing room.” “That’s the canal!” Michelle jabbed her finger at the screen. “That’s me with my head exploding. I thought you cut it!” Jock gave her a stern look. “I agreed to cut the two DVRs. This is lapel cam imagery.” “You had secret cameras?” “Microtechnology. We’ve used it all along. Remember that shot of you on the bike a while back? That was micro cam. You can’t just turn it off like that.” Other heads were popping up in the cubicles, prairie dog style. She could almost hear their thoughts—everyone wants more screen time, and this one is complaining? And maybe they were right. She had signed up to do a television show, as everyone constantly reminded her. “Jesus Elemeno Christ,” she muttered. “You better not have a toilet paper cam in my bathroom.” Jock laughed. “Now look, all this lady’s doing is logging stuff. Ninety percent of it never gets used. No one’s seen it, I haven’t seen it…” “So you promise you’ll never use it?” Jock looked upward, perhaps seeking divine guidance. “I can’t promise, but I’m not out to make you look bad. We’re about inspiration, remember, not humiliation.” Michelle turned and went out the door, her original mission forgotten. Maybe it had been pointless and wrong-headed to try to win just a little but not too much. Now the idea sounded ridiculous. Perhaps Edouard was right, she was trying to control the uncontrollable, to have her cake without the calories. Maybe she should just go with the flow. She made her way back down the sidewalk toward the parking lot. As she came around the overgrown bougainvillea, Michelle saw Edouard about to enter the studio. A tall, slim woman walked next to him. Edouard turned as Michelle approached. “Ah, yes.” He smiled nervously. “Michelle, I want you to meet Anna Coliche. We were just coming to look for you.” What fresh hell… Was this revenge for her showing up at the bus on Saturday with Boomer Sr.? “Great to meet you.” The woman took her hand, both words and gestures conveying an unexpected warmth, which immediately put Michelle on guard. She was half a head taller and half a body skinnier than Michelle, in a coffee-brown velour warm-up suit that hugged her prominent breasts and long legs. She had luxuriant brunette hair and the largest, chicest sunglasses Michelle had ever seen. “She wants to…” The woman ignored Edouard. She slipped her arm inside Michelle’s. “Can we talk?” “Sure.” Michelle let herself be led toward the parking lot. “I want to help.” The woman took off her sunglasses, revealing intense dark green eyes under brows that spread as gracefully as little eagle wings. She was about Michelle’s age, but she had a forthright, even intimidating edge that Michelle immediately envied. She got straight to the point. “I’m the mother Marie Montt told you about. We were contacted by them, when, you know, you were in the adoption process.” Michelle recoiled. What was an adoption-hunting mom doing with Edouard? “I told her it’s out of the question.” The woman leaned on the fender of a deep blue Lexus. “Let me be frank, Michelle. The agency knows there are irregularities in your legal notification of the father.” “Edouard is not…” “Of course not. But of course there is a father.” “Which is nobody’s business.” “Your daughter seems confused as well.” The woman smiled again, her warmth now barely hiding malevolence. “She claims the baby is hers, and she has even convinced the school. But we know who the mother is, don’t we?” “It’s a harmless game.” Michelle hid her panic with steadiness she did not feel..“She’s been telling her friends.” “Harmless? Turning your baby over to your child to raise? Isn’t it usually the other way around, that the daughter can’t be responsible for the child?” “You can’t judge me.” The woman tilted her head. “But maybe CPS would.” How did this woman know so much about her? There could be only one answer, and there he stood, just where they’d left him, rocking on his heels, looking up at the trees. Michelle marched over to Edouard in long, emphatic paces. She stuck her jaw up in his face. “You had no right.” Edouard raised his arms defensively. “It’s for the show.” “What is?” “Her.” Edouard’s fleshy face reddened. “I told you, I’m in this to win. If you won’t be honest about our relationship on camera, then someone else has to step in and challenge you.” “Be honest? It’s completely dishonest to say Booms is your son.” “Nevertheless, that’s what we agreed to.” He stepped back, his eyes cold, his voice unforgiving. “And since you broke that agreement, I have to have some means to create interest in us, even if that’s dishonest, too.” “I should never have trusted you.” He switched to pleading. “I want her on the show, tempting us to give up our baby.” He assumed a confidential air. “But it’s only a test, and then I’ll side with you on keeping the baby. After I get tempted.” Michelle studied him, momentarily baffled by the Cheshire Cat explanation. “What are you saying, that she’s some kind of actress?” “No, she’s real. She really wants to adopt the baby. But I’ll stop her before she goes too far. Give me a little credit, please.” “You’ll stop her? She’s already working with an adoption agency. She’s investigated me and she’s making threats.” The woman was strutting up to them, and Michelle leaned into Edouard and whispered. “You are playing games with my life that you have no right to play. This is foolish and dangerous.” “Don’t worry.” Edouard gripped her hand. “I’ve got it.” Just as the velour pussycat reached them, Jock appeared from around the corner. As he walked up, smiling, he said, “Look out, I’ve got a camera!” Michelle started. Was he kidding, or not? They formed a triangle there on the little entry patio. Michelle and Edouard at one point, Jock at another, and the Loathsome Woman at the third. Edouard made a weak introducing motion with his hand. “Jock, this is Anna. She wants to adopt our baby.” Jock’s smile widened. “We don’t have a baby.” Edouard blushed. “Michelle’s and mine.”
Posted on: Fri, 02 Aug 2013 14:41:09 +0000
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