Page 52 of Catch a Kiwi
“What was it called?” I asked.
She started walking faster. “You didn’t look?”
“I’m a busy man.”
“Or you felt like you were invading my privacy.”
“Nah. I’m not that sensitive. Didn’t occur to me.” I was probably lying, but oh well.
“It’sShipwrecked.The show. One of those survival ones, based onRobinson Crusoe.I was on Season 1, while it was still a big deal. Making a raft, getting what stores we could transport off the sinking ship, trying not to drown or starve to death.”
Now I was the one who stopped. “Why?”
She turned back, all of her looking like wariness. “Why what?”
“I thought you didn’t want all that. The attention. The beauty thing. Why would you do that?”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” She laughed, and when I didn’t, said, “First, I wasn’t that beautiful, not out there. And, I don’t know, I guess I thought it would be a challenge, mentally and physically … and socially, too, because that’s a lot of it. Tempers flare when people are under stress. I thought I could just play Good Girl Barbie, since that was why they picked me. I’d be Low-Drama Sweet Girl, get along with people, earn some money, and then go back to just being me. The group votes somebody off periodically, as seen in every reality show ever. Survival of the fittest, or maybe survival of the least irritating.”
“But you went to the trouble to … audition,” I said. “Or whatever. Not something you can fall into.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, because they scouted me. In a Starbucks. How Seattle is that? I was probably flattered. I’d just finished college, and it paid—first because of the scouting deal, and then more, depending how far you got before you got the boot. I thought—hey, vacation I can’t afford to take otherwise. Adventure, before I go be a software engineer for real in some cube farm, and depending on the money, maybe I could pay off my mom’s mobile home and finally get my own place. Of course, I could have just looked for that good-paying job with, oh, any number of companies that happen to be located in the Seattle area, two of which I’d interned for, and done the same thing within a few years, so I was probably looking for something else. My fifteen minutes of fame. I didn’t realize that fame isn’t always fun, but—hey. Ididpay off my mom’s mobile home. And, of course, I met Felipe.”
“How?” I asked.
“He was on the show. I guess you reallydidn’twatch.”
“What was he doing on something like that?”
“It was summer. The Premier League season was over. And he wasn’t a star yet—this was nine years ago—but he wanted to be. He had visions of endorsement deals, but he went for the challenge, too. He assumed he’d win. Felipe was like that.”
“Sounds like a real prat,” I said.
“Maybe, but underneath … he was more than that. That was what—” She broke off, and for the first time, I thought,She’s still in love with him.That’s what’s behind all the reserve.I tried to pretend it didn’t matter. It didn’t work.
Unfortunately, we were only halfway back to the carpark. The breeze had picked up, and there were occasional flecks of foam on the wavetips. “Storm coming in,” I said.
“Mm. I’m glad we did our swim yesterday. And that I’ve replaced the weatherstripping on your doors.”
“You have, eh.”
“I have.”
She tugged her jumper closer around herself as she walked, and I said, “I could put my arm around you, of course. Warm you up.”
“Or,” she said, “we could run.”
“Do you run?”
“You should watch the show,” she said. “Then you’ll see that I can run.” And she did. Headlong. Hair flying, jumper flapping, sand swirling up behind her, into the wind. And when I came up beside her, she grabbed my hand and said, “Fast as we can go.”
Which we did. Fast, hard, and flat to the boards. Holding hands.
Sweating. Gasping. Sandy. Real.
Nothing like Barbie.
Now, I smiled, remembering that, and put my foot down a bit more. Nearly eight-thirty in the evening, and the daylight nearly gone. She’d have got home before me, probably, have taken her shower. If I were lucky, she’d come out in the thin dressing gown again. I’d turn on the outdoor fireplace, pull out another bottle of wine, and when she was relaxed and soft …
