Description: As high-spirited Eve slips out of the hotel room for a Miss Teenager contest practice run, Julie receives a phone call from none other than Pike Setter who has some news that he must share with her directly.
Eve Goes to New York. PART 16.
Juliet Jones rarely slept in. The mayor of the town of Devon was always up before anyone else in her home. Normally she’d peek in Eve’s room across the hall and find her little sister snoring softly in some contorted position with her blonde hair splashed across the pillow. On any given morning, Eve would be talking in her sleep, hugging her pillow, and muttering her ex-boyfriends’ names, saying things like, “What’s wrong? Don’t you like my dress?” Julie would grin and head off to the kitchen where she’d prepare the coffee and fried eggs, ham, and toast for Pops, Eve, and herself.
Eve would eventually patter down to the breakfast table in her slippers and pajamas with her hair in complete disarray and her eyes half-open. It was only after her breakfast and a shower that the spunkiness of Eve’s personality would burst as she darted about like an out-of-control shooting star.
But there was something about being in New York City for the Miss Teenager pageant that made Eve suddenly appear mature beyond her years. More calm and collected, ready to take on the world. This morning was no exception.
When Julie opened her eyes and saw the clock on the bedside table that read 8:05am, she had a good mind to fall right back to sleep and chalk it up to a vacation sleep-in. She didn’t have to cook for Pops, and it was rare that she would get a vacation from the continual political affairs of the mayor and the town’s needs that never seemed to end.
She sighed heavily, grinned, and closed her eyes. Just a half an hour more… Just then, the light clicked on and Eve flittered out of the bathroom with her round garment bag and dressed for success.
Julie lifted her head from the pillow. “What’s this crack-of-dawn routine, Eve?” Julie asked with a horse throat.
“Rehearsal for semi-finals, Julie,” Eve replied on her way to the door with an exuberant grin. “Be good now.”
Later that morning, after Julie had showered, dressed, and done up her hair, the phone rang. It was a man’s voice. Must have the wrong room, was her first reaction. He introduced himself with a name that sounded like Psyche Zedder. What kind of a stupid name was Psyche, she thought? Was this a gag?
“Who?” Julie asked. Apparently, the man removed his cigarette to say it clearer. “Oh… Mr. Setter.”
He said he had to see her pronto, and wondered if she’d like him to come up to her room. Mr. Setter in her room? Alone? Um…. No. Way.
“No,” she replied politely, “I’ll come down to the lobby.”
She found him in the gift shop, flipping through the pages of the magazine Mr., opened to an article entitled, “The Moon Maidens – A Factual Report.”
He turned when he saw Julie, his half-smoked cigarette bouncing on his lips. “What’s your morning libation, mayor?”
“Coffee,” answered Julie without a shred of emotion. His sarcastic smirk when she’d visited their hotel room in Queens was still fresh in her mind. “You said you had to see me. Is it about my sister?”
