"Tell me about it."
The message read:
Rune--Richard asked you over for dinner tomorrow, at seven, hes cooking. He has a surprise for you and he also said why the hell don't you get a phone. Ha ha but he was kidding
"Yes! I thought he'd given up on me after we went to the nursing home on Sunday."
"Nursing home? Rune, you gotta pick more romantic places for dates."
"Oh, I'm going to! I've got this totally excellent junkyard I go to--"
"No, no, no."
"It's really neat." She fluffed her hair out again. "What should I wear? I have this polka-dot tank top I just got at Second-Hand Rose. And this tiger-skin skirt that's about eight inches wide ... What?"
"Tiger skin?"
"Oh, like, it's not real.... If you're into rain forests and stuff like that. I mean, it was made in New Jersey--"
"Rune, the problem isn't endangered species."
"Well, what is the problem?"
Stephanie was examining her closely. "Are those glow-in-the-dark earrings?"
"I got them last Halloween," she said defensively, touching the skulls. "Why are you looking at me that way?"
"You like fairy stories, right?"
"Sure."
"You remember Cinderella?"
"Oh, it's the best. Did you know in the real story, the Brothers Grimm story, the mother cut the ugly sisters' heels off with a knife so their feet would fit into the--"
"Rune." Stephanie said it patiently.
"What?"
"Let's think about the Disney version for a minute."
Rune looked at her cautiously. "Okay."
"You remember it?"
"Yeah."
Stephanie walked around Rune slowly, examining her. "You understand what I'm getting at?"
"Oh ... a makeover?"
Stephanie smiled. "Don't take it personal. But I think you need a fairy godmother."
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Rune wanted slinky.
Stephanie reluctantly indulged her but the expedition to stores that specialized in svelte was a failure. Rune spent a half hour in tiny, hot changing rooms trying on long black dresses and playing with her hair, trying to look like Audrey Hepburn, trying to look slinky. But then the word frumpy crept into her mind and, even though she could strip and look at her flat stomach and thin legs and pretty face, once she thought frump, that killed it. No long dresses today.