The Favoured, The Fair and Ms. Vérité Claire

2 Beauty And The Beast

As Vérité was digesting her morsel of fame, it occurred to her that, more than ever, she was responsible for setting the good example of paying it forward. She bought a hybrid car and gave Umberto two weeks off so that she might be seen plugging and unplugging at charging stations across the city. After misunderstanding corn's role in ethanol and bio oils entirely, she had no choice but to use the battery instead of fuel and donated a year's worth of Mazola very publicly at a food bank.

Julia, meanwhile, was exercising her newfound financial freedom by purchasing the little comforts that make a home a sanctuary. She decorated for company she never had but might, entertaining the thought of entertaining. Though Vérité regularly made a game of pointing out prospective suitors for her, she respectfully stopped short of matchmaking. The designer who had sold Julia her new chaise was briefly sniffed out but ultimately dismissed because of "wet eyelashes" that weren't "to be trusted". Since Julia had seen him move his wedding band to his right hand she did not protest. The chair had been delivered that afternoon and Julia was just removing what she thought was a tag but which turned out to be the owner's phone number stuffed between the arm and seat cushion when Vérité phoned.

"Julia, I have bad news. Binnie Snerd is dead."

"Who's Benice Nerd?"

"The Pulchresse Cosmetics heiress. At least she was. They sold the company to the Garbage brand last year."

"I'm sorry. Are you very upset?"

"When they renamed my favourite sage coloured eye shadow 'Fatigued' I switched to Estée Lauder. It's not the same."

"Are you upset about Bin - about her death?"

"Well, her mind had gone, bless her, but she had a nice long life, I suppose. Very few medical emergencies. All her own joints. A sanctuary for unwanted rabbits. I know what people said but Pulchresse never tested on animals."

"You were friends?"

"I was the poster girl for one of their wrinkle creams when I was in my late teens. 'Vitamin E Miracle Cream. The E is for Erase!' The last time I saw Binnie was at her ninety-fifth birthday party. They had to tell her she was being interviewed by 60 Minutes to get her out of the house. Luckily the local morning show was filming a segment at that particular waffle house and they played along. How odd of Fate that in my last photo of her she's wearing a promo tee-shirt for the Big E breakfast sandwich. That E was for Eggs. Anyway, we're going to the viewing tonight."

"Oh, Vérité, do we have to?"

"Please, Julia. For me. The lawyers and nurses outnumber the family. It would be heartbreaking not to send her off with at least a little glamour."

"All right. For you."

"Now, I will need you to pick up something for me to wear on your way over. I haven't a thing."

"I could be there in a half hour. We could take your new car and go shopping together."

"I would but I have a phone interview this afternoon and Bernard's borrowed the car for a mini-date."

"It's not even noon."

"He said he was a teacher and something about recess."

"On school grounds? That can't be allowed."

"It's more of a drive-by scoping. It's amazing what Bernard can suss out through a chain link fence doing 30."

"Any specifics?"