by Karen Quinn
“Renata’s not a thief. I’m sure there’s an explanation. Listen, Brownie, I’m on my way to an important meeting. But Nectar’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“Isn’t that juuust like you…”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Isn’t it just like you to send an employee to do a mother’s job! Do you really think that maid of yours is equipped to handle a delicate situation like this? Everyone at Colby says you’re a bad mother, Christy, but I’ve been defending you. I will not defend you any longer.”
Brownie slammed down the phone. She did that a lot.
Somebody to Lean On
Christy sent Nectar to pick up Renata. She knew that even if she collected the child herself, Brownie would tell everyone that Christy wanted to send the maid but had only come in person after Brownie shamed her into it. The other mothers would be scandalized. Since she was destined to suffer the consequences no matter what, she might as well commit the crime.
Are people really saying I’m a bad mother? Surely they have better things to do than gossip about me. Then again, maybe they don’t. Am I a bad mother? Christy wondered. Renata goes to a wonderful school, eats well, dresses beautifully, takes piano and tennis lessons, studies with an excellent tutor, sees a top psychiatrist. Only a good mother would provide all that, right? Then again, maybe Brownie has a point. After all, she’s always there for her kids. Vigilant. On top of their every move. I know what Renata’s up to only if Eve schedules bonding time or if we run into each other in the evening. And that doesn’t happen every day. Brownie’s right, Christy thought. I’m a terrible mother. I’ve got to make this better. She called Eve and told her to assemble Renata’s team later this afternoon. Why did this have to happen today of all days? Having Renata is such an inconvenience. No, no, I take that back, she thought instantly. Does thinking that make me an even worse mother?
Steven pulled the car up to Niles Raines’s building. “Stay parked in front. This won’t take long,” she told him.
Niles’s assistant escorted Christy into his boardroom. He came through the back door and kissed her cheek before sitting in the chair next to her.
“Thanks for meeting on such short notice. What have you found out so far?” Christy asked.
“I spoke to Warren Heider and Rami Shah. Apparently, Katherine has been meeting with each director individually to make her case for ousting you.”
“Did she contact you?”
“Not yet. She knows we’re close, so I guess she’s waiting until the others have turned before approaching me.”
“What did Warren and Rami say?”
“That stock prices have been down for months and you haven’t done anything to rectify it.”
“But sales and profits are up…”
“Let me finish. She’s arguing that you were the right person to create and build the company, but that now that we’re public, we need a stronger CEO to take us into the future. Baby G has become too complex to be led by someone whose greatest achievement was athletic. Katherine’s got the Harvard MBA, the history of having been here since the beginning, and a plan to grow the company threefold over the next five years.”
“She’s presenting a business plan?”
“According to Rami.”
“The company commissioned Bain to work with us on that. I initiated the project. She’s holding it out as her plan?”
“She admits Bain was involved in devising the strategy. She claims it was Bain’s recommendation that you become chairman and allow a different kind of leader to take over the day-to-day.”
“Those traitors.”
“I talked to Warren and Rami at length. Neither is convinced that it’s time for you to go. I’m meeting with Peter Thomas and Judith Maslin later. Let me plant doubts in their minds. You need to call a board meeting for tomorrow afternoon. We can’t let this drag on.”
“I’ll arrange it. And Niles, thank you for everything you’re doing for me. I should have listened when you recommended against making Katherine COO. You were right.”
“Unfortunately, Christy, most of the things one needs to know in business are learned after the fact, and at a big price.”
Behind Co-op Doors
Renata’s caregivers gathered in the library for an emergency session to discuss the incident at Stephanie Rich’s house. The following individuals were present: Nectar Freedom, nanny; Dr. Ruth Perlmutter, psychiatrist; Eve Hamilton, family assistant; Junior Fritz, driver; Yok Wah Lim, cook; Cynthia Rodriguez, maid; Leo Morgenstern, academic tutor; Jake Cross, new PE tutor. Renata eavesdropped from the closet.
“Dr. Perlmutter, did you have a chance to talk to Renata?” Christy asked.
“Just for a minute. And as you know, everything Stringbean tells me is privileged.”
“She doesn’t want to be called Stringbean anymore,” Christy said.
“Yes, I think she does,” the doctor said.
“No, really, she doesn’t. So please don’t call her that.”
“Fine. Everything Re-na-ta tells me is privileged. So I can only say that if she was engaged in the behavior of which she’s accused, it would be perfectly normal for a child of her age—”
“Well, what she tells me isn’t privileged,” Nectar interrupted. “She told me that Stephanie has her strip naked every time she goes to that child’s house. And she also told me that Stephanie gave her the heart necklace as a symbol of their friendship. Renata didn’t steal nothing from nobody.”
“When I drove her home from Stephanie’s, she was inconsolable,” Junior Fritz added. “We can expect her to regress after this.”
“Excuse me, I’m the psychiatrist here,” Dr. Perlmutter said.
“You don’t need to be a shrink to know that being called a nympho by your best friend’s mother will cause a trauma,” Junior Fritz said.
Yes, he’s right, especially now, when I’m so impressionable, Renata thought. What is a nympho exactly?
“I agree with Junior, Dr. Putter. In fact, I have Renata in the back right now vacuuming all the rugs in the house. Vacuuming is excellent therapy for her,” Cynthia said.
“That’s Perl-mutter,” the doctor clarified. “And I don’t think you’re qualified to know what is and isn’t good therapy for the child.”
“What-ev-er,” Cynthia said.
“May I interrupt?” Jake Cross said.
“Excuse me, but have we met?” Christy asked, appraising the stranger in gym shorts for the first time.
“Oh, he’s Renata’s tutor for the Presidential Fitness Test,” Eve said.
“She has a tutor for the Presidential Fitness Test?” Christy said. “Don’t you think I could have tutored…trained her for that?”
“Well, yes, if you had time,” Eve said. “I just didn’t think—”
“Excuse me,” Jake said. “May I—”
“Not now,” Christy said. “I want to get back on track here. Nectar, did Brownie call her a nympho to her face?”
“Not to her face. But as we was getting in the car, she told me never to bring my little nympho to her home again. Renata would’ve had to be deaf not to hear that.”
“I heard it,” Junior said. “And I am deaf in one ear. Too many Grateful Dead concerts,” he explained.
“May I say something?” Dr. Perlmutter said.
“Of course,” Christy replied.
“I recommend that you triple her therapy. If I don’t see her every single day, I cannot take responsibility for the consequences.”
That did it for Christy. “Dr. Perlmutter,” she said, “you should be ashamed. Just leave us. You’re fired.”
Dr. Perlmutter gasped, then sputtered like a car that was about to break down.
From the closet, Renata could hear the door slam as the doctor exited in a huff. She jumped up and did her patented secret-agent dance, the one that only highly trained spies knew how to do because it required such talent. In her head, she sang, “Go Christy, go Christy, you’re m’ hero, go
Christy.”
“…there’s only one thing this child needs, and that’s attention from her mother,” Nectar was saying.
Renata stopped dancing. By “mother,” does she mean Christy? she wondered.
Eve spoke up. “But Nectar, Christy and Renata bond regularly. I should know. I schedule those moments. And I’ll bet you sometimes connect with Renata spontaneously, too, don’t you, Christy?”
“Yes, well, sometimes.” Christy nodded. “And I think I could find the time to train her—”
“Add that to the attention you and the committee provide, Eve interrupted. She was on a roll. “Renata gets as much love and devotion as any other privileged child, based on what I’ve seen from the kids in her class.”
“Mmm-mmm-mmm. Eve, a child can’t be raised by a committee. Don’t matter how expert they are.” Nectar grabbed a pen and a napkin. “Christy, here’s my letter of resignation. I love that child too much to be part of this abomination.” Then she stood up and walked to the door. “‘Good night. Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow!’”
Stop her, Christy, stop her, Renata begged silently from the closet.
Christy ran after her. “Wait, Nectar, please. Don’t abandon me now.”
“I’m sorry, Christy, but I can’t stay.”
Christy asked Nectar to follow her into the bedroom.
Renata scooted to the other side of the closet so she could hear better.
“…a little longer,” Christy was saying. “Things are real hard for me at work right now. By next week, it should be straightened out. Then I’ll make Renata my first priority.”
“Don’t you see, Christy? Next week it’ll be another emergency at work. You need to commit to Renata all the way or let her go. You’re not doin’ her any favors.”
“Someone said the moms at school think I’m a bad mother. Do you think that’s true?”
“No,” Nectar said.
“Really?” Christy asked, sounding surprised. “I’m okay?”
“I didn’t say that. I don’t think you’re a good mother or a bad mother. You’re not a mother at all.”
Christy groaned sadly.
“Do you really think this is any way to raise a little girl?” Nectar asked gently.
“No, of course not. It isn’t ideal. But I have so many responsibilities. I don’t think I could do it without staff.”
“Christy, lots of women work and have kids at the same time.”
“Then why is this so hard for me?”
“Maybe those women have husbands who help more.”
“Even single women work and raise kids.”
“That they do,” Nectar said. “But they aren’t the big boss of the whole shebang. Didn’t anybody ever teach you the rule of two?”
“Is that from Shakespeare?”
“It’s from my old boss, Lillian Kornblee. Love, career, children, pick two.”
“You think I need to choose?”
“Yes, I do.”
“But Renata’s not even my child. I started Baby G. It means everything to me. I fell in love with Michael. He’s my other half.”
“Then I guess we know what you’ll be choosing,” Nectar said.
Renata gasped in the closet, almost giving herself away. Her heart beat frantically. If Christy follows the rule of two and I come out number three, where will I go? What will I do? Who’ll raise me? she wondered. Not good. Not good at all. What if they send me to foster care? Renata remembered that some of the kids at her old school had been with foster families, and it sounded like the worst fate possible. She knew for a fact that foster parents treated their kids like slaves and slapped them around for fun and held them prisoner in cellars filled with piles of old yellow newspapers. Renata’s nightmare fantasy was interrupted when she heard Nectar say she was going to pack her things.
“Wait,” Christy said. “Please. Give me a week. Please, Nectar.”
Nectar was silent for a moment. “You seem to want to do right by Renata. Okay,” she said. “One week. After that, you’re on your own.”
DEAR DIARY,
YESTERDAY STEPHANIE’S MOM CAUGHT US PLAYING DOCTOR. SHE WENT MENTAL AND SNAPPED. I CAN’T PLAY WITH STEPHANIE ANYMORE. NOT THAT I CARE. I WAS JUST FAKING BEING HER FRIEND ANYWAY. LATER, CHRISTY HELD A BIG MEETING WHERE EVERYONE TALKED ABOUT ME. DR. PEARLMUDDER WANTED TO SEE ME EVERY DAY TO GET OVER MY CRISIS. NOTHING PERSONAL TO DR. PEARLMUDDER BUT I HATE HER. I HAVE HATED HER EVER SINCE THAT FIRST VISIT WHEN SHE SAID GRANDMA WAS REALLY SMART FOR A MAID. ANYWAY, CHRISTY FIRED HER SO HA! ON DR. PEARLMUDDER.
THE WORST PART OF THE MEETING WAS WHEN NECTAR QUIT. I KNOW I DON’T NEED HER, BUT I LIKE HER. I MAY HOLD A CANDLELIGHT VIGIL TO GET HER TO STAY. PLUS, AND HERE IS THE ABSOLUTE WORST PART OF ALL, THEY’RE PLANNING TO SEND ME TO FOSTER CARE!!!! NO ONE HAS COME RIGHT OUT AND SAID IT, BUT I CAN READ BETWEEN THE LINES.
TODAY AT SCHOOL, STEPHANIE TOLD THE GIRLS I WAS A FREAK. NOBODY WILL TALK TO ME. PIPPA TILBERRY POURED ELMER’S GLUE DOWN THE BACK OF MY BLOUSE. ALL IN ALL, TODAY WILL GO DOWN IN THE ANUS OF HISTORY AS A COMPLETE DISASTER. AFTER SCHOOL, I WENT STRAIGHT TO MRS. DE MILLE’S HOUSE. AS USUAL, SHE IS THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN FEEL MY PAIN. WHEN SHE WAS LITTLE PEOPLE HATED HER FAMILY SO MUCH THAT SOLDIERS ROUNDED THEM UP AND KILLED THEM (EXCEPT FOR MRS. DE MILLE WHO MADE A DARING ESCAPE THAT SHE CAN’T TELL ME ABOUT BECAUSE IF SHE DID I’D BE A WALKING TIME BOMB). THAT CHEERED ME UP. MY PLITE IS NOTHING COMPARED TO HERS.
YOUR UNWANTED FRIEND,
RENATA
Media Massacre
Christy allowed the hot water to beat against the back of her head. Then, she let the jet stream massage her neck. As she used to do before a big race, she visualized the next few hours. At noon, the board would hold an emergency session. After all these years, it came down to this. Christy versus Katherine.
In her mind, Christy saw herself speaking calmly but firmly to the board. They would listen, nod their heads. It would soon become clear to them that she was the one best qualified to lead Baby G. There would be a vote. Everyone would congratulate Christy on her victory. They would shake her hand and smile. Meanwhile, Katherine would sit silently staring straight ahead at the conference room table. The board would leave the room, suggesting that the two ex-friends take a moment. Christy would walk over to Katherine and offer her hand. Katherine would stand up to shake it but instead of an empty hand, she would be holding a small black revolver. Christy, who had always had excellent reflexes, would knock the gun to the floor…
A pounding at the bathroom door interrupted Christy’s fantasy. She poked her head out of the shower stall.
“Beegee, hurry. Eve’s waiting downstairs. Says you should come now,” Michael called to her.
Christy dried off quickly, put on a robe, and tied her hair back in a ponytail. She rushed down to see what was so important.
Michael stood at the bottom of their stairs and handed her the new Wall Street Week. Christy’s face graced the cover and she looked…confused. Couldn’t they have chosen a more confident shot? The photographer must have taken two hundred pictures. The headline read CHRISTY HAYES—TIME TO LET GO? Michael walked with her to the living room, his arm around her shoulder. Christy felt nauseated. She sat on an ottoman and put her head between her knees.
Michael rubbed her shoulders. “Take some deep breaths. I’ll bring you some water.”
Christy sat up slowly. “No, I’m…I’m fine. It’s just…that headline. Let me see the article.” There were two stories. The first was a profile of Christy, beginning with her mother’s death, then outlining the early struggles in school and later successes in track and field. The piece cited her lack of an MBA and chronicled her most notorious relationships, from the bankers mentioned in the Journal scandal to Cantor Farrar’s Francis Rich.
“You didn’t really sleep with Fran Rich?” Michael asked. “That’s a lie, right?”
“Where does it say that?” she asked.
Michael pointed to the section.
“Katherine must
have told the reporter. How could she?” Christy said.
“Is it true?”
Christy spoke softly. “Yes. It happened before I met you. The man is such a worm. He led me to believe he was separated from Brownie. I never would have slept with him otherwise.”
Michael gave Christy a strange look.
“What?” she said.
“Nothing.”
“Say it.”
“I can’t believe you’d have sex with that guy. He’s a notorious skirt chaser.”
“It was a long time ago. Before we knew each other. I thought he was separated from Brownie. I’m so sorry. I hope I haven’t embarrassed you.”
“I’m fine,” he said, looking anything but. “It’s you I feel sorry for. Fran Rich is such a loser.”
“This is mortifying,” Christy said. “I can count on one hand the number of relationships I had before we got married. And now, thanks to the Journal and Wall Street Week, my reputation is ruined. I worked so hard for everything I got, but the world’s going to think I slept my way to the top. All the mothers at Colby will read this. Brownie will read it.” Christy threw her hands up in the air. “How could Katherine do this to me?”
Michael went back to reading the article, then moaned. “Jesus, it says here that you’re in the process of adopting a child who’s having emotional problems. They’re reporting she’s in therapy.”
“What? How dare they invade Renata’s privacy? We told the reporter that was off the record.”
“Honey, nothing is ever off the record.”
“Yes, but this is about my kid,” she said.
“Look at the next page,” Eve said. “There’s a whole piece about whether it’s time for you to step down. Listen. It says ‘sources close to the board are questioning if Christy’s entrepreneurial style, so vital to the start-up of the company, will be enough to move Baby G to the next level of expansion.’ Then they quote Karl Lehmann: ‘Christy’s strength is in pitching investors, not in tending to the details required to run a complex public company.’ Karl says it may be time for you to become vice chairman and appoint a new CEO so you can concentrate on visionary pursuits and special projects.”