VIRAGO

Chapter 4

      I approached the next three days of interviews with roaring confidence, Teflon coated by my session with David. I should never have doubted my ability; once in the driving seat, all my training and life skills came into play. I'd fed all the data through to the technicians on David's session; I received no suggestion of change or amendment but given that he was my first client, a congratulatory word would have been appreciated. I concluded my efforts to be somewhere between minimal and satisfactory, advised myself not to be disheartened by the lack of confirmation. Nonetheless; I'd survived and here I was, fulfilling my destiny, dare I say, with a hint of a something akin to enjoyment.

Face your fears Evangeline and the death of fear is certain, except the majority of my fears would chill the blood of a cadaver.

The air was different this morning, something had shifted. I woke bristling, apprehensive at the first interview I was to conduct with an adolescent. A mature sophisticated young lady on paper; still her totality of seventeen years classified her as a minor. She was to meet me with a chaperone; this idea, of a third person sitting in observing my work increased the complexity of proceedings and if I'm honest, my nerves.

The intercom shrilled, unusually aggressive and persistent and much earlier than I expected. Barely a beat of ten passed before a tornado of Burberry whipped toward me. Vertiginous Louboutin heels, flashing red in one of the most marvellous display of power dressing I have had the good fortune to behold. Halting abruptly before the Ouroboros, she left her young charge trailing behind, whilst I, utterly captivated, comtemplated if this vision carried her own oxygen supply, way up there.

'Oh my.'

Awe spilled from her eyes, Tom Ford swam up my nostrils. Martin's fragrance of choice back in the day, I should have recognised it as an omen. The necessary introductions were perfunctory; this matriarchal creature on stilts made no secret that she was keen to move quickly to interview. I survived the hustle to get into the room, primarily distracted by who was actually in charge here. That's when the claustrophobic closeness hit me. Lucinda's mother took the additional seat I'd arranged, her daughter followed, slipping into the other which was the precise moment I realised I was hemmed in, driven back towards the wall. I focused on the rise and fall of my chest, reminding myself of the facts, how this room was adequately sized for six fully grown humans. Walls don't shrink in at people Evangeline; none of this is real, it's all in your head.

Just, need, to, breathe.

And the universe rewarded me, for at least trying to get my shit together, responding with a fabulous distraction only someone with my issues could truly appreciate. The show pony dramatically swishing her mane; really, it was quite something to behold.

'I do apologise, Mrs. Berkeley. I didn't quite catch that.'

'I was suggesting we take care of the formals immediately, I have an urgent matter to deal with elsewhere.'

I've never breathed the same air as a human form so completely and utterly polished, I was transfixed. Coated in impossibly smooth skin, radiance to blind that beggared belief; this woman was flawless and fabulous and polished; did I say polished? Because she's the kind of polished that demands a double take. A gleaming, shield your eyes type of sparkle. My admiration for this impeccable creature swelled in competition with my sadness, what I wouldn't sacrifice to look like this vision before me. My lips parted to form an O, above which the fruit machine settled on two gold stars.

'Would that be agreeable?'

'Lucinda's classed as a minor, on that basis a chaperone is advised. You would need to authorise our consent waiver.'