Why Are You Here? Part 3 of ?
Miranda dropped her fur coat and Marc Jacob’s bag on her second assistant's desk, reeling off commands to cancel a budget meeting with Irv Ravitz at 3:15 and reschedule for 2 days hence at 7:30 an early morning time he would undoubtedly not wish accept. Followed by pushing up today's run through with Jeremy Scott to 11am and moving her pedicure and manicure to 2:30, having Patricia picked up and taken to the groomers at 1pm, and her ex-husband Greg called to pick up the girls at Dalton at 2:30 to take them to Max Azria so they could pick out dresses for his upcoming wedding and perhaps shoes as well.
Miranda doubted the twins would like the shoes at BCBG, seriously who did. However Max's Generations line had a few items that would look good on her daughters. Once they brought something home she could take a look and have few styles in their size sent to the house the next morning.
Thankfully Miranda didn't have to go Greg's third wedding. Honestly, who would want to married in the hotel where Hotel was filmed. It was so 1985 and The St. Gregory didn't even exist. Greg was no saint, but he was a good father. Miranda was willing to have her babies dressed fashionably more as a present to them than to Greg.
Last week Cassidy had looked up the show on Wikipedia. Apparently it was a weekly drama similar to Fantasy Island or Love Boat with guests arriving at the St. Gregory only to fall in or out of love. Miranda was appalled, but considered Greg being married by the captain of a cruise ship to be even worse. Cabana wear was not stylish and had as much appeal as a sand box. She would never demean Greg’s choices to the girls aloud, but her pursed lips said a lot.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Caroline resigned herself to attending the wedding and hoped her dad was finally going to be happy this time. Tammy seemed much nicer on the few occasions she and Cassidy had spent time with them at her dad’s. She was hopeful that Tammy wasn’t just on good behavior when her dad was around. It seemed like he finally made a good choice.
Her dad’s last wife was nasty to her and Cassidy. Of course, Yvonne got worse after a few pranks, but she deserved it making those comments about her mom. Yvonne was a deep sleeper and fell asleep by the pool whenever they visited over the summer. One afternoon Yvonne forgot to use sun screen and after she fell asleep Caroline placed aluminum foil shapes on her. She added a little Vaseline to the skin side so they’d stick and not blow way. Cassidy spelled out a few choice words in strategic locations. The Exact-o-knife kit Caroline asked her mom to send her worked out perfectly.
Caroline stuck an image of a toilet beside an open mouth above Yvonne’s bikini top. Cassidy spelled female on her right thigh and dog on her left since, she wasn’t allowed to use bad language. On her stomach Caroline place a black widow spider with the center cut out to form the red hourglass shape and hoped her dad got that message loud and clear. It helped that Yvonne was afraid of spiders. They weren’t allowed to bring their pet tarantula, Prince Harry over anymore so this shape was for him, too.
The foil also helped to sunburn the outlines all over Yvonne’s body. Her forehead came out great and spelled skank. Later when they got in trouble, Cassidy innocently told her dad it spelled skunk for Yvonne’s dreadful taste in perfume. Caroline convinced her sister not to spell bitch and she had to admit it was a brilliant idea because their punishment was not that harsh. Their dad treated it as kids will be kids and banned them from the pool if he was not there. Yvonne was livid, but it was too hard to look at her and not start laughing.
When they had arrived back in NY their mom asked them to come to her office and sit down. She looked pointedly at her 12 year old daughters, raised her left eye brow, and then asked them to utilize the slang word, skank properly in a sentence.
Miranda:”Please use it to say something other than, Yvonne is a skank, which I believe you have already demonstrated visually to your father.” She leaned back in her Herman Miller Aeron chair with her legs crossed and one Louboutin poised to tap the air. Their mom obviously knew they had applied it intentionally, unlike their dad.
Miranda privately elicited responses from her girls to be sure they were clear on the meanings of what they wished to convey. The proper word or phrase should be wielded with the precision of a surgeon’s scalpel. For the purposes of furthering their education she wished to be sure the twins understood what the slang word actually meant, if they were determined to use it again.
Miranda followed up her questioning by asking where they had heard and learned the word skank.
Cassidy: “Mrs. Vander-Woolrich was on her cell phone talking to her sister, about her upcoming divorce, and called Mr. Woolrich’s mistress, Tiffany, a skanky bitch.”
Miranda: “Language.”
Caroline: “Mrs. V-W is always on her cell phone when she drives us home from Soccer Camp complaining to her sister or her mother about her marriage.”
Miranda: “She does go on about her personal business. I thought she was only speaking to other parents this way at Dalton events. Shall I have Roy pick you up instead for the rest of the season, Bobsies?”
Caroline and Cassidy: “No!” They answered quickly followed by a quieter. "Thank you."
Cassidy: “Sarah would be all alone with her mom and she begged us to stay so we could talk about soccer.”
Caroline: “We like her and she is good at defense if we can keep her focused off the divorce.”
Miranda: “I shall call Tessa and tell her to hang up the phone if she is driving you around or else I will have Roy pick the three of you up.”
Caroline and Cassidy: “Thanks mom!”
Miranda: “One more thing before I send you off to unpack and wash up for dinner. I expect you both to be proficient in cutting out vowels by the end of the summer.” I want you to stencil a small Runway sign for me which is suitable for framing. That’s all.” The subtle use of ambiguity to keep others guessing by tone or meaning would come, but she was pleased at their craftiness and wished a reminder.
Caroline and Cassidy: “Yes mom,” they reply with straight faces.
Their punishment was to practice using the Exact-o-knife until they could produce discernible a’s and u’s. As they left her office Caroline thought she heard her mom laugh, Cassidy said that she was mistaken it was a snort. Giggling they raced up the stairs like a herd of elephants.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 14 Caroline was introspective and used art to channel her emotions rather than rein them in tight like her mom. Cassidy preferred being more active and besides soccer she played tennis and softball. Caroline still liked the piano and found it relaxed her. Cassidy wasn’t able to sit still that long anymore and gave it up when lessons conflicted with her after school sports. Caroline was glad they played soccer together and often went to Cassidy’s other games to draw the players or the field depending on her mood.
Looking with a half smile at a delicate silver Runway print on her mom's office wall, Caroline hoped her mom would be home at a reasonable time this evening. Not so much so that they could finalize and accessorize their outfits for their dad’s third wedding, rather she missed the time they spent together as a family. Things had been both easier and harder when Stephen left three years ago. Easier in that the tension within their home was less, but her mom was somehow sadder. Neither she nor Cassidy cared for Stephen and his man of the manor attitude or his drinking. It didn’t seem like Stephen was reason enough for her mom’s sadness. The press had been frightful, but tossing a few balloons filled with oil and vinegar made them stand back further so that wasn’t it either. The Priestly girls had weathered plenty of media storms and life eventually calmed down.
End of Part 3
part 4 http://kali-blue.livejournal.com/2845.html