by Nicole Casey
I looked around the room as I waited for her to turn up fashionably late. This was where I usually felt most at home. I wondered whether Janie would like it or find it all a bit too posh and intimidating.
The actress looked stunning as she walked in. All of the heads in the room turned as she swished past their tables, wearing a dress that was somehow elegant despite revealing more of her breasts and legs to the world than if she had only worn shorts and a bikini top.
She sat down across from me and I felt the jealousy of every man in the room turned towards me. Did we look like the world’s most perfect couple? Could I find happiness with a woman like this?
Maybe the key to my future lay in finding someone on the same social level as me.
“I adoro this place, Frank. It suits my image so much.”
“It does. You look as though you belong here.”
“I spent two hours getting ready to come here but maybe I needed another one. Is my coiffure just perfect or does it need to be touched up?
“It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
“I worried that I might be showing too much escote. Am I ravishing or did I veer a soupçon towards vulgar?”
“Ravishing. Your cleavage is magnificent as always.”
“I love this petit necklace that my second husband bought for me. My amigos tell me that it brings out the color in my eyes and lights up my smile like the aurora borealis.”
“Yes, it is beautiful.”
“Oh Frank, my ears are just my only debolezza. I do hope that you can give me cute little ears like Brigette or Sophia. I adore my neck and chin but I need to hide my ears as though they were some sort of…ordure.”
This excruciating and one-sided conversation carried on throughout the meal.
Were her eyes suitably sfumato? Had she lost weight or was her cleavage a little sobrepeso? The actress was obsessed with her own looks and with adding in a bewildering mixture of foreign words, even if she didn’t really seem to know what some of them meant.
Of course, this is the sort of painful conversation that I was used to with my clients. Just about every one of my clients was like this woman; vain, self-obsessed and a crushing bore to be with.
She might be one of the planet’s most beautiful women but I didn’t know how any man could spend more than an hour in her company without losing the will to live. Once you had seen her plunging escote and been dazzled by her petit necklace all you were left with was vanity and empty words.
The image of Janie came into my head. Was she as attractive as this woman in front of me? Probably not in the classic sense of the word, no.
However, she had what the actress would probably call je ne sais quoi. Janie was fun to be with for her body and for her mind. She was funny, she was bright, and she made me feel good about life.
I recalled Janie’s charming way of always turning the conversation towards me and asking me questions that no-one else had ever asked. She had asked me about whether I liked my job and had encouraged me to open up about my feelings.
Did this world famous actress even remember who she was with? To her, I was just another faceless admirer who was there to shower her with compliments and make her feel like the most attractive, important person on the planet.
“Ooh, caldo, caldo, caldo!” She screamed dramatically after tasting the soup. “Mozo, my soup is far too hot for human consumption. I can’t afford to scald my lips or ruin my voix for your fault.”
I tried not to laugh as I imagined how Janie would gently poke fun as this horrendous woman I was working for.
The conversation finally got round to her ears. She hated them and wanted them to be smaller, more rounded and infinitely sexier. Could I do it? I sure could.
I told her that I could do it next week but that wasn’t going to suit her schedule.
“I start filming with Michael next month. He is such an amore but I can’t afford to turn up with bandages on my ears. I need you start work pronto or the whole thing will be terribly stressful for poor Michael.”
My brain was working overtime to see how I could fit her in tomorrow. Sure, I could work pretty much non-stop for the next couple of days and fit everything in. It would be worth it.
“Sure, tomorrow is fine by me.”
“Maqnifique! There’s just one tiny little problema.”
“Yes?”
“I need to be in Las Vegas tomorrow. For the ensayo, capiche?”
When I spoke to this actress I was glad that I had learned Spanish with my Mexican relatives as a kid and listened to a lot of Italian music, as it was the only way I could at least get a grip on at least part of what she was saying.
“I have a colleague who has a clinic in Las Vegas. I can do the job there if that suits you.”
At least the hard work and the traveling would take my mind off other matters. I could maybe stay for a week and do some networking to look for other clients there too. It could turn out to be just the break that I needed.
“Meraviglioso!
13
Janie
I looked at the giant mansion and tried to control my nerves. I failed.
The night was falling and Frank Sanchez’s home looked utterly enchanting in the fading light. It was located in the city’s most exclusive neighborhood and I had never set foot here in my life before now.
The property looked empty and I wondered why Frank lived alone in such a huge house. Didn’t he get bored and lonely there by himself? I know I would if I had all those rooms to rattle around in and no-one to talk to.
I imagined dining on spaghetti and meatballs with Daisy at a huge table. Would there be servants there to attend to our every whim and look horrified as we slurped away happily?
I crept around to the front door, feeling like a fish out of water and trying my very best to not be noticed by anyone. There appeared to be no-one around in the entire neighborhood but I guessed that several CCTV cameras were now trained on me.
I walked up to the entrance and found an entry system that looked like it belonged in a NASA building. I tentatively pressed the biggest button and waited.
Nothing happened.
I pressed again and was about to give up when a little old man came walking slowly towards me from inside the property. He looked either Latin or Asian, with one of those faces that told of a long, hard life.
The man was holding a rake in his hands. His eyes wrinkled up as he looked at me suspiciously through the gate.
“Dr. Frank no here.”
“Is he at the clinic?”
“Who you?”
“Dr. Frank clinic?” I decided that matching his Pidgin English was the best approach, even if I felt very foolish doing it.
“Dr. Frank Las Vegas”
“Las Vegas? What’s he doing in Las Vegas?”
“Las Vegas.”
“Yes, I got that. Thanks.”
The old man started to walk away but then stopped and turned round to look at me. He scrutinized me from head to toe and then took a step towards me.
“You Yanie?”
“What?”
“Yanie. You Yanie?”
“Janie? Yes, that’s me?”
His wise old eyes lit up and a huge smile showed yellow teeth with several gaps in them. Despite this, it was one of the nicest and most genuine smiles I had ever seen.
The door creaked open and I wondered why the mention of my name had magically gained me entry to this exclusive, high-security mansion. How did he even know who I was?
The gardener or housekeeper or whoever he was left me by the pool while he went away to do something. I no longer had any idea what was happening and decided to go with the flow.
I looked at my reflection in the shimmering water of the pool and imagined swimming here with Frank by my side. To be honest, we were skinny dipping in my fantasy and it was delicious.
It was a fabulous infinity pool that overlooked the city and had a giant statue of Buddha at each side of it. There was a feeling of pe
ace about the property that I hadn’t expected.
The house itself was Mexican in style and looked as though it was completely spotless. I had never wanted to live in this sort of mansion or felt any jealousy towards the people who did. Yet, something about this place made me feel much more at home than I had imagined.
“Are you Janie? We’ve been hoping you would turn up.”
A woman of about my age was walking towards me. From her foreign looks, I guessed that she was maybe the grand-daughter or niece of the old man. However, she spoke perfect English rather than just random words thrown together.
“Wait a minute, you don’t even know me. How could you be expecting me to turn up here?”
We sat down together at a table overlooking the pool and the old man brought out a beaker of fresh lemonade and some little pastries. I could get used to this sort of lifestyle.
“Janie, we are all worried about Doctor Frank. He has been working too hard and we think it is because he misses you.”
“Wow, hang on a second. How do you even know who I am? Never mind…he misses me?”
She smiled and sipped some lemonade.
“Sometimes he forgets that I speak good English, unlike my grandfather. I heard him speak to his family and friends about you.”
“What did he say?”
She shrugged enigmatically.
“He is confused. He thought he loved you and then he thought that you cheated on him with another man.”
“Maybe I did.”
“Ha ha. Then why did you come here? My grandfather is 84 years old and is the best judge of a person I know. He told me that he saw purity and goodness in your eyes.”
“Things got complicated between us. I messed up and he misread the situation. It was my fault, really.”
“Did you come here to apologize? Do you love him?”
“I don’t know and, well, I don’t know. I wanted to see him and try to put things right between us. I enjoy being with Frank and I think he likes me too.”
The woman nodded and went to speak but decided to hold her silence while I ate a pastry. It was delicious, filled with some sort of warm, sweet jelly that I had never tasted before in my life.
“He tells people that you are the first woman that he felt could change his life for the better.”
“I don’t know what to say.”
“This is none of my business, really. It’s just that…Doctor Frank has always looked after my family very well. My grandfather dreams of helping him find a wife and be happy before it is too late. He thinks that you should try.”
“Try what?”
“To be that woman. Go to Las Vegas, Janie.”
“What the Hell? You want me to just turn up in Las Vegas and look for Frank there? What if he doesn’t want to see me?”
She shrugged again.
“That’s what I would do if the man I loved was there.”
She excused herself and went away to work, leaving me with a note of the hotel Frank was staying in for the next week. Was she being serious?
I had just enough money to get the bus to Las Vegas and stay for a couple of nights in the cheapest hotel I could find. Daisy could stay with her favorite aunt and I could say that I was traveling there for a job interview.
It really wouldn’t be all that difficult to sort out everything if I tried.
This was the most stupid thing I had ever planned to do. Why was I even seriously considering this ridiculous idea at all?
14
Frank
The new ears looked fantastic on her, I had to admit.
The actress was delighted with the work and give me a hug while she blew air kisses in my direction. For the first time in my life, I was repelled by the artificial nature of a woman’s body.
Her breasts brushed against me, firm and unyielding. I had given her those breasts and while they looked spectacular, they simply couldn’t compare to Janie’s natural beauty and allure.
As she sashayed away I looked at her artificially enhanced buttocks and other features that I had worked my magic on. She looked to me like an expensive doll rather than a real, natural woman.
Alone in Las Vegas, I wandered up and down the strip wondering what to do. The heat was stifling and my plan of networking didn’t seem all that interesting anymore. I had never been in this city before and the only person I knew was my colleague whose clinic I had used for the surgery.
I ate a hugely expensive but unsatisfying meal and had a couple of glasses of cognac. Gambling had never been something that I had tried before but as I walked back to my hotel I decided to give it a try and see whether I liked it.
Armed with a big pile of chips I tried out a number of different games, losing on most of them and getting the occasional small win. I had soon worked my way through $1000 and decided to get some more chips and another drink.
“I love Vegas.”
The man beside me had a maniacal grin on his face and dollar signs in his eyes. He put some more chips down beside the roulette wheel and I did the same. We both lost so I bought him a drink.
“Your first time here?” He looked as though he felt the need to talk to someone to avoid losing money for at least a few minutes.
“Yeah, yours?”
“No way. We come here every year.” I looked around to see who the other part of his “we” was but couldn’t work out who he was with.
“Do you usually win?”
He laughed a deep, guttural laugh.
“No-one ever wins here.”
“Then why do you play every year?”
The man thought about it for a full minute, as though the idea of not coming here to lose money had simply never crossed his mind.
After an hour of losing money and drinking poor quality but hugely expensive cognac, I staggered out. I had probably just wasted all of the money I had earned by coming to Las Vegas but I didn’t care.
It was still bright and sunny, so I was half blinded as the sunlight hit me.
A street vendor selling tickets for a new musical caught me off guard and I bought one without thinking about it.
The show was dull and hard to follow, although the cognac in my bloodstream might have been at least partly to blame for that.
From my seat near the back of the theater, the most attractive dancer reminded me of Janie. I stumbled down to the front and paid a guy a couple of hundred bucks more than he had paid for his tickets in order to swap seats.
The show was based on 1960s rock and roll. The Janie lookalike was a sweet and innocent minor character. I forgot about the rest of the cast and concentrated on her long legs and warm smile.
It was dark by the time I stepped outside. The casinos were lit up brightly and the sidewalk was crowded. By now, I just wanted to be alone with some peace and quiet.
It had been a long day and I no longer knew why I was even in Las Vegas, wandering up and down the packed strip in a daze.
As I reached the hotel entrance I suddenly felt very tired after a long and emotional day.
“Frank!”
I wanted to ignore the faint voice behind me but something about it made me stop in my tracks.
“Frank!” It was getting louder, as though the person that it belonged to was either running or walking quickly towards me.
I recognized that voice but surely it was the alcohol that had put some sort of illusion into my head. There is no way that it could be the person I thought it was.
I turned around and took a step backwards in disbelief. How had she found me here?
15
Janie
The bus trip to Las Vegas was uneventful and largely forgettable. However, the chance to spend several hours looking out of the window in silence allowed me to put my thoughts in order.
It was amazing how my thoughts cleared and my doubts disappeared as the bus trundled over the endless highway, with the horizon always just tantalizingly out of reach. I took a mental note to always go on a long bus trip alone when I needed some
thinking time to myself.
By the time we had reached Las Vegas I was ready to swing into action. My mind was made up and I felt like a woman on a mission who had clear goals at last.
I went straight to the hotel address that I had been given by Frank’s kindly workers. Unsurprisingly, it was the biggest and most expensive looking hotel on the strip.
I felt too intimidated to go in and ask for Frank, so I hung around a fast food joint across the street and waited for him to appear. The hours passed slowly and I had to switch to a coffee shop to avoid getting too many strange glances from the people working there.
The sun went down and I was starting to get tired. Was he already in his room up or was he going to be out all day working? I couldn’t imagine Frank going out to play the slots machine or go on a massive drinking spree, so surely he had to arrive at his hotel at some point.
I had run out of places to sit down and watch the hotel from, so I started strolling up and down the strip while looking at the hotel entrance every few seconds.
Just as I was giving up hope completely, I thought I saw him. Dressed as immaculately as ever, he looked handsome, with a couple of days’ worth of stubble matching his gray hair perfectly.
He seemed to be wobbling slightly from side to another, though. Was he drunk?
Actually, that made me feel a bit better for some reason. Perhaps it would be easier to talk with him if he had been drinking.
“Frank!” I had to call out several times before he finally turned around. We were standing outside the entrance to his luxurious hotel. He took my arm rather roughly and pulled me into the hotel without a word.
I was a bit worried about his strange behavior as we entered the elevator and he punched the number 27. He was clearly staying in the penthouse suite on the top floor.
He turned to look out the huge glass window at the lights on the buildings in front of him. It gave a panoramic view of Las Vegas but because it was dark outside now it had turned into a giant mirror.
I stood behind him where he could see my reflection clearly and slipped off my dress. I don’t even why I did it, as it wasn’t the plan I had been working on at all. I guess I had decided to avoid all the complications that come with words. It was time to let our instincts take over and guide us now.