"Career Day is such a waste of time. Everyone in this town knows where they'll end up after graduation: the good boys will go work for their daddies or their fathers-in-law and the good girls will be wives and teachers and maybe nurses." Art scoffed.
Lydia wasn't sure what to say. Her wild brother was not wrong, but Career Day was a tradition and social forms must be maintained. Traditions were the glue that held society together, and in such a rapidly changing world, might be the last saving grace for the Columbian Way Of Life. On the other hand, Lydia herself dreamed of something more, something greater. She wanted glory, fame, recognition. She wanted to be the most important person in the room and she wasn't afraid to admit it to herself. She had ambition, and gumption. What she lacked was opportunity.
"The War Times showed us women can do anything men can do, equally efficiently, sometimes better. Just because a lady shouldn't have to ruin her manicure with hard labor doesn't mean we can't do it. And you must not forget the field nurses, riveters, and Gold Star mothers who did so much to support the effort."
Art argued, not with any fervor, just to prove he was superior. "In the War Times, everyone supported the effort. Do we send children back to the workhouses just because they collected silver paper and weeded Victory Gardens?"
Lydia shook her head. Men and boys loved to pretend they were somehow smarter or better than women and girls, but the truth of the matter was she knew she was destined for greatness. If that meant she had to play along with them, she would. For now.
"Alright, Art, at least try to enjoy the pep rally and picnic then." Lydia said. Art was on the football team and very popular, so the idea appealed to him.
"Lydia Lafayette?" A broad-shouldered man with a cleft chin called.
"I am she."
Before him stood a tall, trim girl, perfectly turned out and put together at two o'clock in the afternoon on a pep rally day. He had been told she had both Talents and a reputation for going the extra mile, but even after everything he had seen at the Organization, he wasn't quite prepared for a seventeen year old to be so exceptionally perfect. Her dress still had starch and iron creases in all the right places, not a single hair in her updo was even slightly awry, and her expertly applied makeup was flawless.
"I have your school records here, and I have to say, they're impressive. Valedictorian of your class by a wide margin, tennis champion, swimming team captain, half a dozen extracurricular activities, collegiate-level credits in multiple subjects, and letters of recommendation from a handful of professors at the University indicating French fluency, an advanced mastery of the higher maths, and a keen interest in hard sciences with an emphasis in... astrophysics?" He was actually incredulous without any acting or false face required. How did the Organization find this candidate in a farm town in Cotton of all places?
Lydia noticed his neutral accent right away. He didn't sound Southern, but he wasn't obviously a Yankee either. He sounded like a newscaster and looked like a clean-cut University gridiron athlete. She'd read somewhere that television and radio anchors trained themselves to sound like they weren't from anywhere in particular so everyone could relate to them, and now she could see the impact was even more profound in person. The way he spoke and his appearance seemed sophisticated to her. It sounded like opportunity knocking.
"Yes, sir, I believe deeply in the importance of the space program for the future of our great nation and humanity." She said, meaning every word.
Recruiting her was like taking candy from a baby. He gave her his canned spiel about offering her an internship at the Organization and a full scholarship to the University's aerospace program, but none of it was really necessary. She was eating out of his hand the from the beginning. Lydia was nobody's fool. This was her ticket out of dinky, conventional Frog Level and into the world of movers and shakers, thinkers and doers she so coveted. When the man laid out the contract documents on the table before her, she carefully read each one and signed with a flourish. She didn't even hesitate when she reached the Non Disclosure Agreement: it gave her a thrill to think she would be trusted with access to secret knowledge.
When she finished, she reached out to shake the man's hand. "Thank you. I look forward to working with you, Mr.... ?" Her voice trailed off as she waited for the man to fill in the implied blank with his name.
"Reever. Douglas Reever. It's a honor be the one to bring you into the Organization, Miss LaFayette. Thank you for joining us."
YOU ARE READING
Hiding The Truth
AçãoRecruited by a shadow government organization and forced into service as assets, two very different young women find themselves thrown together by circumstance as they navigate a strange new life. Lila wants to do whatever is necessary to escape, bu...
