Shadow in Glass

Chapter Three

Carrie didn't realize she'd throw everyone off their game as she pushed past the Captain of the Guard and over to her father. There was clearly a routine established for debarking the plane in Grand Island, and it involved Carrie staying on the plane until the throng of people who were always there to greet the plane was gone.

"This is not procedure," the Captain stated. "You're supposed to wait."

"I don't want to wait," Carrie stated, folding her arms.

He was flabbergasted. "You have to wait until the press corps is gone."

"I'm not waiting around until they go away. I'm walking down that staircase with my father in whatever formation we deem proper."

"This is not procedure," the Captain of the Guard repeated. He was at total loss for a solution to this break in protocol.

"Your procedure is going to have to change, captain," Carrie stated, and shoved her way over to her father.

"Barbara?" he asked, startled.

"Hello, Dad." She smiled. "Mind if I join you down the stairs?"

"No, of course not!" He smiled at her, stunned. "Your fiancé may not like it..."

"Suddenly, not so much a concern," she answered. "I'm interested in what's going on around here. We started at the summit, let's keep going. The best way to continue is to walk down those stairs with you."

He nodded in agreement. "I'm liking this new you already."

"Good," she said, and impulsively gave him a hug. Everyone around them gasped, and Carrie backed up, shocked and chastised. "Did I do something wrong?"

"Wrong?" her father whispered, incredulous. "No, darling, you did nothing wrong. You simply haven't hugged me in public since you were about seven years old, and were yelled at for doing it by one of your etiquette teachers."

"Now, that seems silly," Carrie mused.

"Yes, it does." Dad hugged her again. "Let's go. We don't want to hold this party up any more than we already have." He looked around, and Carrie could see the objections on some of the faces surrounding them, but no one was going to voice their opinions. Dad nodded. "All right then, here we go. Barbara, next to me." It was an order that sounded as though he'd been waiting to give it for years.

The door of the plane swung open, and several of the guards walked out ahead of the rest of the party. They were followed by a group of minor officials and several of the King's personal secretaries. Guards were positioned just outside the door of the plane, and indicated it was their turn to exit.

Carrie hoped no one saw her hesitation. She was suddenly petrified at walking out that door. She recognized that whatever was going on with this whole new world was very likely permanent, and this was the final step in admitting it. She almost tripped.

Before she allowed herself to do anymore thinking, she was out the door, standing next to her father, staring at a throng of people who were cheering. He waved to the people and clearly toward the press off to the side, and Carrie offered her own small—what she thought would be proper—wave. She didn't want to come off seeming like she was radically changed, yet. Barbara couldn't suddenly disappear. She wanted Carrie to slowly take over what Barbara had left behind. But halfway through her wave, a torrent of flashes and camera lights seemed to erupt from the press area, and the air was filled with murmurings of the press and the crowd.

Dad walked down the stairs, carefully, and Carrie followed as demurely as she possibly could. She'd never actually taken the etiquette lessons everyone thought she had.