Transition: Chapter 17 (WRSX)

“Why do I have to wear make-up?” Jillian wrinkles her nose in distaste. “Don’t I look OK the way I am?”

“You look positively stunning, darling; but you’ll look awful under the lights if you don’t let me touch you up a little. Trust Rudi, darling. I know what I’m doing.” Rudi smiles reassuringly and gestures for Jillian to sit in a salon chair that stands in front of the mirror that covers the better part of the wall in the small dressing room.

“What is it with you athletes?” Rudi adds, peevishly, as he studies Jillian’s face with professional concern. “Your friend gave me a hard time too. She wouldn’t even let me touch her. And she’s so ghastly pale.” He pauses and shudders at the thought as he drapes a pink towel around Jillian’s shoulders. “She’ll look terrible under the lights, and you can tell her I said so.”

“My friend?”

“The other girl,” Rudi says, as he dabs some kind of powder on her face with a soft brush. “What’s her name, the redhead...”

The redhead... Sunshine?

“Jill! Thank God you’re here,” Leida Andersen says, as she bustles into the dressing room. “Is she almost ready, Rudi? We’re on in...” – she glances at her watch – “...oh my God, we’re on in ten minutes.”

“Leida,” Jillian tries to ask, “is Sunshine O’Malley going to be...”

“No, no, no, don’t talk, for God’s sake, don’t move a muscle,” Rudi commands, as he pats Jillian’s face with a small sponge. “I’ll be done before you know it, and then you can talk all you want.”

“Just have her in Studio B by five ‘til,” Leida demands. “Rudi? Can you do that for me?”

“I can if you’ll stop distracting me, darling. I can’t very well talk and work at the same time, now, can I? Which one would you like me to do, dear? Talk or work?”

Leida sighs and turns to leave. She pauses at the door, glances again at her watch. “Five ‘til, Rudi,” she says. “Eight minutes.”

“Eight minutes,” Rudi mimics, when Leida is safely out of earshot; and the imitation is so dead-on that Jillian has to laugh.

“Now, stop that,” Rudi orders, trying to sound annoyed, although he’s clearly pleased with Jillian’s reaction. “You’ll ruin everything, darling, and then I’ll have to start all over again. And if that happens,” he adds, his voice sinking to a conspiratorial whisper, “we’ll both be in big trouble.”