Butterfly

Chapter 1
The Awakening

“I’ve been studying all my life now. My friends only like me because I can help them with their homework. My life is equally divided between school and library. My life… I don’t even have a life. Just what am I doing?”
For most people midlife crisis comes in their forties, when they look back and realize that they haven’t achieved anything to be remembered by and they look ahead and see themselves trapped in the same dull, grey life they have lived so far, the same perspectiveless job, the same commonplace family… But Alice had always been a precocious child, so it hit her one lazy autumn morning, in the university library, in her nineteenth year of life. She had always been a model student, ever since first grade, always studying and trying to make her parents and her teachers proud. She had always excelled at every subject and she had always put a lot of energy in her studies. Because of her vast memory she was now studying history and aiming to become a teacher, the only career open to a History graduate. Her whole life had been a dull study. Her future life would be a routined reiteration of what she had learned. She looked at it for the first time, the broad perspective stretching out from her birth to her death at a venerable age, and she felt trapped. There was no room in it for what she wanted. But what did she want? She did not know. As far as she could look back, she had always wanted to make people proud of her. Now it wasn’t enough. It was too tiring and not rewarding enough. She was exhausted. She just wanted to sleep, to sleep forever, never to have to study again. Suddenly she felt stifled in the library. The room was large and cold, lined with old shelves full of old books and covered in dust. In the middle there were rows of desks, all covered in the same thick dust, all empty. It was a Saturday morning and no one else was thinking of studying. The bored librarian was sitting at her table at the front of the hall, browsing a book and yawning from time to time. There was little light coming through the windows, as if even the sun were peevishly avoiding the place. Suddenly Alice stood up, returned her books and went out.
It was a foggy and cloudy morning. Alice stopped outside the building, not knowing where to go. She felt she needed to walk, as if her whole life she had been standing still. Then she decided and headed for the nearest park.
The park too was deserted. The weather was not inviting anyone out for a walk. But Alice wasn’t looking for people. She just needed to stretch her legs and to think about her life. She walked aimlessly among wilted flowerbeds, until her feet felt tired. Then she looked around for a bench and she finally became aware of her surroundings. A long lawn of dead grass lay endlessly on one side, speckled with geometrically arranged flowerbeds. On the other side there stood a group of trees, their dead leaves hanging pathetically from the branches. No bench was in sight. She walked down the lane and around a corner and she found out she was not alone in the park. There, on the one bench, there sat a young man with an easel in front of him, absorbed in painting. Alice searched the distance. No other bench was in sight. She considered the situation for a while, but her feet felt too tired, so in the end she sat down shyly on the farthest end of the bench. Then she could not help looking at the painting. She was amazed. It showed the same view she had before her, yet not the same. The park around her was dead, but the painting was alive. There was no fog in it and no clouds. A deep blue sky contrasted with the gold of the leaves. The lawn was a fresh green, and the flowers on it bloomed in vibrant colours. It was like a parallel world, a better world. “It must be wonderful,” she thought, “to be able to create something like this, not to be confined to everyone’s boring grey world.”
Then she looked at the artist. His short and messy hair was a sandy blond, and his skin was tanned. His clothes looked old and worn and he was very skinny. “Artists can’t make a lot of money,” she thought. But in spite of his obvious poverty, his face was calm, serene, even happy. It was a very pleasant face, with calm features and huge eyes of the same blue as the sky in the painting. Alice found herself admiring it more than she should. She felt embarrassed and she turned her eyes away, back to the park. The desolate view seemed grimmer now that she had seen the painting. She turned her eyes back to it, watching the flowers blossom under the brush. She felt she could look at it for hours. It made her happy just to see that world, wondering what lay beyond the border of the painting.
But hours did not pass. It was nearing lunchtime and Alice began to feel hungry. She looked at the painter again, expecting him to gather his things and go to lunch, but he didn’t seem to notice anything except the scenery he was painting. Her stomach gave a loud intimation that it was time to eat. Reluctantly, throwing one last glance at the painting, Alice stood up and left.

Chapter 2 - Night Life

Alice did have friends. She rarely saw them because she was always busy studying, but they did exist. Making up her mind to start a new life, it was her friends that she turned to. She recalled they partied a lot, so she decided to give this lifestyle a try. It was appealing, and for one thing she didn’t have to study at all. So she gave Sarah a call and asked her to please take her with her the next time she went out.
Sarah was surprised. Alice had never agreed to go out before. She and the gang were going out that night, as they did every Saturday night. She was glad to have Alice with them.
“But Alice, do you have what to wear?”
Alice hadn’t considered that aspect before. She found out there was a lot to learn about partying. Sarah took her shopping and chose a dress and accessories for her, then left her with the promise that they’d meet later that night at the disco.
Alice’s first night out was awful. She felt awkward in the new dress, stumbled on her new high-heeled shoes, felt embarrassed by her lack of make-up, couldn’t dance and didn’t know what to talk about. But she didn’t let herself be intimidated by one bad experienced. She had thought that this would be a study-free life. She saw now that she had a lot to learn. She studied the fashion trends in order to buy clothes that would be both fashionable and comfortable for her to wear. She studied walking on high heels. She studied the latest dance steps. She studied the art of applying make-up until she felt pleased with the result. She studied the fashionable hairstyles and had her hair cut accordingly. And she studied tabloids and women’s magazines for information on the hottest stars, so she’d have what to talk about. She did all this earnestly, and in a short time no one could have distinguished her from the crowd she was hanging out with. Sarah, who had at first taken her under her wing and taught her the basics, was thrilled with her progress. Alice was a regular party girl now. She still went to the university in the morning, but in the afternoon, instead of going to the library she went shopping, and she spent the evenings in discos and clubs. She got less sleep than before, but she thoroughly enjoyed herself. The strong drinks and cocktails made her head spin, and dancing made her feel in a trance. And she met new people every day and had the time of her life talking about shoes and stars.
After the New Year, Alice was initiated into a new sport: sales shopping. Sarah and her would skip classes so they’d have an early start. They attacked the stores of famous brands, buying clothes they could never have afforded otherwise. They crowded with many other women, fought to get close to the clothes racks, scanned them hastily to be the first to lay hands on the desired dress, then queued for hours at the dressing booth to try them on. The frustration of not finding the right size anymore was rarely broken by a good discovery, but in the evenings, when they returned home with their trophies, they were exhilarated.
But all good things must come to an end, and the end came that January, when she flunked her first exam. Her parents were furious and refused to give her anymore money. They were hoping she’d study harder the next semester to get in their good graces again, but instead she decided to get a job.
Alice got herself hired as a waitress at one of the clubs where her friends usually hanged out. She worked nights, so she didn’t have to miss school for it, but she couldn’t party anymore. Alice found it a good job. She couldn’t drink or dance, but the atmosphere was the same, and she still got to see her friends regularly and talk to them. The salary was good and the tips were great, and she soon learned how to handle the weirdoes who tried to pick her up. To her parents’ horror, she now returned home even later than before, and she began skipping classes so she could go shopping. Her little spare time was dedicated entirely to partying with her friends. Under the circumstances it was no great surprise that she flunked all her exams that summer. Her parents were terrified. Their pride and joy, their A+ daughter was in danger of dropping out of the university and becoming a waitress for the rest of her life. They revised their attitude. They now promised her an increase in her allowance under the condition that she’d quit her job and concentrate on her studies. Alice considered it. The allowance didn’t amount to half her current income, but she was growing bored of the job. She wanted to get drunk and dance every night again, and she concluded that studying during the day and a few days before each exam was better than working all night. She took their offer and she passed all her exams in September. She could now go back to her old life of parties and everyone was happy.

The first paragraph sounds sooo familiar...

The weather was not inviting anyone out for a walk...aici insa as zice
The weather was not inviting enough for anyone to go out for a walk...

dar e alegerea ta

Loved it
same as Lucia

Chapter 3 - Boyfriend

An important part of social life was having a boyfriend. This was a must for everyone, and Alice would have never wished to be considered an oddity by remaining single while waiting for her one prince charming. Fortunately, Sarah’s group comprised a vast assortment of men, who kept switching partners regularly. Since they were all in it for fun and not for love, the average relationship lasted at most a few weeks, after which boredom ensued. As Alice was fresh meat, she was readily pursued by all the men as they became available from their previous relationships. And being eager to fit in as fast as possible, she could not afford to be picky. She accepted the first offer that was made to her. She immediately regretted it since the young man in question had nothing to recommend him other than nerve and a quickness to take action. She had barely agreed to go out with him when she found his tongue inside her mouth. It did not make a good experience for a first kiss. Somewhere, a part of the old bookworm in her still yearned for some romance. Later experiences convinced her that he was not a good kisser.
During the first days she could not disperse a feeling of doom. She thought this was going to be her only relationship. Getting to know him better, she was beginning to dislike him and she felt oppressed. But at the same time she could not break free out of fear of becoming an outcast. After observing the dynamic of the relationships in the group for a while, she felt relieved and dumped him in no time for a better offer. Knowing that no attachment was forever made things more enjoyable even with those she did not like, and sometimes she got back with men she had dumped, like all the girls in the group. She continued not to be picky. In an attempt to experience everything this life had to offer, she tried each man once, regardless of how she felt about him. She only had one rule that set her apart from the other girls and greatly annoyed the men. It was a remnant of the good upbringing she had been submitted to for nineteen years. She refused to sleep with any man unless they had been together for a whole month. And since past relationships did not count toward that goal, this was a task impossible to achieve even by the most dedicated off them.
As soon as this rule became general knowledge, the race was on, every man wanting to last the one month, just one month. But to Alice the one month didn’t mean just that. The suppressed romantic in her had made up her mind that if she stayed that long in a relationship it would be forever. Whenever the deadline approached, she became unsure of her feelings and she broke off several promising relationships. Some of the men lost interest after a few attempts. Others continued to stubbornly pursue her, and all new acquaintances always wanted to give it at least one try. In all, she was never short of suitors and she could count on having a boyfriend by her side for every party.

Chapter 4 - Fashion

“A friend of mine is a fashion designer. She made this dress.”
This was a new acquaintance’s answer to a compliment Alice had casually placed. It made Alice look at the dress more carefully. She was in the habit of complimenting clothes regularly without paying much attention to them, as a means of deepening a relationship.
The dress was not out of the ordinary, but pleasantly feminine. It was made of a soft, white material with delicate silk embroidery.
“The shoes too are to match.”
The shoes had low heels, were made of white fabric, and had the same embroidery. Alice could not help admiring the ensemble.
“I can take you to her shop if you want,” the girl continued.
Alice liked this new acquaintance. Her name was Marilyn and she was only seventeen. She was short and slender and had luxurious blonde hair with a single pink lock right in the middle.
“Let’s go tomorrow!” Marilyn offered.
“But designer clothes must be very expensive,” Alice noticed.
“Well, this one was,” Marilyn admitted, “because there’s a lot of work into it, but there are many dresses at the shop that are quite cheap. Mabel is at the beginning so she can’t afford to make them too expensive until she earns a name for herself. But they’re all really pretty!”
So the next day Alice met Marilyn in a less travelled part of town and together they entered a labyrinth of side streets and finally discovered a small shop with large windows and the sign “Ma Belle” over the door. Inside there was a colourful display of clothes and accessories, ranging in style from girly to elegant. Alice could not take her eyes off them. For some reason they reminded her of a sunny autumn morning, maybe because of the many vibrant colours.
“Is Mabel in the back?” Marilyn asked the shop assistant.
“Yes, she’s finishing up a skirt.”
“Come on,” Marilyn turned to Alice, “I’ll introduce you.”
But before they could reach the door to the back room, it opened, and a tall young woman came through it and hugged Marilyn tightly.
“Marilyn! I thought I heard your voice!”
She had black hair arranged in a bun out of which a single lock came out and wound over her forehead. It was a neon green. Alice could see where Marilyn got her inspiration for her own hairstyle. She wore a blouse covered in multicoloured frills, which hung loose on the right shoulder, and a simple denim skirt.
“Hello,” she said, releasing Marilyn and turning to Alice. “I’m Mabel Evans. Nice to meet you.”
“Oh, Mabel, this is Alice Spinner,” Marilyn interrupted while Alice was holding out her hand and opening her mouth to answer. “She likes your dress.”
Mabel’s face brightened into a wonderful smile and she shook hands with Alice.
“I’m so glad. Which one?”
“The white one,” Marilyn answered in Alice’s turn.
“That’s one of my favourites too,” Mabel replied.
“Marilyn was so kind to show me your shop,” Alice said, feeling the need to make conversation. “It’s really lovely. Do you mind if I look around?”
“Of course not! Here, I’ll show you my best creations.”
And Mabel took her by the hand and showed her the cloths she thought would best suit Alice. Alice liked them all and could not make up her mind which ones to buy. She would have liked to take them all, but there were so many that she didn’t have the money. She tried them on a few times and couldn’t take her eyes off her reflection in the mirror.
“I can set them aside for you,” Mabel offered cheerfully.
“But, you know, there might be some time before I have the money for all of them,” Alice said shyly.
“It’s all right. You can get them one at a time. If I don’t set them aside they’ll get sold and you won’t find them anymore. All the clothes here are unique, I don’t make two of a kind, it would be boring.”
“It would be great if I could buy them later, but is it really OK, keeping them for me for so long?”
“Of course! You’re a friend!”
Alice had never been befriended so fast before. She blushed and tried to say something, but she couldn’t think of anything to say.
“Let’s have a piece of cake together!” Mabel proposed after Alice had taken one dress and paid for it. “I know a great place close by.”
The place was small and quiet and very simply decorated, but the cakes looked great, and, Alice ascertained right away, tasted great too.
“Business is great!” Mabel told Marilyn while savouring her strawberry parfait. “I already have ten steady customers.”
“You haven’t opened long ago, have you?” Alice asked.
“No, only a couple of months ago. I’m still at the beginning. Though it’s so long since I started making dresses it feels like I got so far away already. It’s been five years.”
“Really?” Alice didn’t think it was such a long time. “How did you start?”
“I made my first dress when I was fifteen. I was in the first year of high school and there was a party for the first years and I didn’t have what to wear. I searched in all the shops, but I couldn’t find anything I liked, so I decided to make a dress myself. It wasn’t great or anything, but I had worked so much on it that I was very proud of it. My classmates liked it a lot and asked me where I’d bought it. When I told them I’d made it myself, at first they didn’t believe me. Then they wanted me to make dresses for them too. I didn’t feel confident enough to make clothes for other people, but they insisted so I took some tailoring classes and then I made the dresses. Then Dinn – that’s Geraldine, Marilyn’s sister – said I could make money out of it, that I should sell dresses. I had begun to like making clothes, so I thought I’d give it a try. I made a few and I took them to various shops. They sold well and they wanted more, so I’ve been making more and more clothes and I’ve been saving money to open my own shop. Just having the clothes sold is wonderful, but to have your own shop you can see the people buying them, you can see that they’re happy and they come back for more. And you sometimes see them wearing them. It’s so rewarding! Because clothes are made to be worn. Not sold, worn. Every time I make a dress I think someone will look good in it. People are happier when they look good, so it’s wonderful to know that I’m making people happy.”
Alice agreed. She felt happy just looking at the clothes. She couldn’t wait to get home and try the dress on again, and she couldn’t wait to have a chance to wear it and show it off to her friends. She was already anticipating the compliments. “That’s wonderful,” she thought, “to make people happy.” She remembered the painting she had seen on the first day of her new life, and how looking at it had made her happy. “So this is what art is about,” she thought, “making people feel better. It’s very altruistic. And all the time I was studying it throughout history I thought it was just about expressing yourself.”

Chapter 5 - Makeup

“This won’t do!” Julia exclaimed emphatically.
Julia was an older acquaintance in Alice’s group of friends. She liked to wear flashy clothes and she was always criticising.
“You’ve got such a lovely dress, it requires a special makeup!”
This was her reaction to the new Ma Belle dress Alice was wearing. Alice took the half compliment quite well because it was coming from Julia, who never liked anything.
“We really must fix this!” Julia went on. “For Sarah’s birthday party next week I’ll take you to my makeup artist. Buy a good dress for it!”
Alice thanked her wondering how she was going to pay for a new dress and a makeup artist. It turned out she had to pay for a hair stylist too. Julia took her to her favourite salon and made her runt the full course from getting a facial to finger ad toe nails to hair and makeup. Alice kept wondering how she could sustain Julia’s lifestyle if she had to go thorough this for every party. She was just pondering upon it while Alphonse, the makeup artist, was working on her face, when she noticed her reflection in the mirror. The change was dramatic.
She had underestimated Alphonse. When Julia had introduced him, she had only seen him as a short, plump, middle-aged man, who looked gay because he wore makeup. He was dressed with extreme care in a purple shirt and black trousers, and moved his fingers in the air as if he were playing the piano. He left Alice an unpleasant feeling because he was definitely not aesthetic looking, with his round face, beady eyes and fat lips which looked moist with gloss. Her first thought had been that this makeup artist business was just something intended for rich people to make them feel better. She knew Julia and others like her. The more they spent on a dress or a hairdo the more beautiful they believed they looked. To pay an absurd amount of money on makeup must have made them feel gorgeous. Now she noticed the difference that a good makeup artist could make.
Alphonse stepped back and examined the effect on her face. He gave it an approving nod.
“It’s finished,” he said. “Do you like it?”
“Yes, thank you so much! I really think it’s wonderful. This is real art!”
Alphonse smiled at the compliment, looking quite pleased. Most of his customers were rich people who took everything for granted, expected to buy only the best with their money and were at most content with the results.
“It must be really thrilling to have such a job and such talent,” Alice went on. “You must feel so rewarded, making people beautiful, making them happy.”
She remembered well Mabel’s theory about beautiful people being happier and about art being for the sake of making people feel better. Alphonse gave her a disdainful smile.
“Actually,” he answered, “I’m in it for the money. I don’t care what the customers look or feel like as long as they’re happy enough to pay and to tip me generously.”
This reminded Alice that she had to pay. At the end of the day, walking out of the beauty parlour and calculating how much she had spent, Alice decided that she could do without a makeup artist until her wedding. The wedding would be an important, once in a lifetime event, of course, and Alice had always dreamed of a big wedding, a fairytale wedding where she would be the star. For such an occasion no expenses should be spared. But that was a distant prospect, and a worthy partner had not yet appeared. Until he did, she promised herself she would save the money.

Chapter 6 - New Year

That year, the group decided to gather all the acquaintances and friends of the acquaintances and rent a whole club for the New Year’s party. To Alice’s horror, Julia was in charge of making the arrangements, so the whole thing cost quite a lot, but at the same time she was thankful for the quality. The place was huge and packed with people. She met Marilyn and Mabel and was introduced to Marilyn’s older sister, Geraldine. Geraldine was taller, but had the same blonde hair and blue eyes. She looked very elegant, but she sounded a bit snobbish. She emphasised that she was wearing a Ma Belle dress that had been made especially for her. Mabel was very proud to have her dress valued so much.
Next Alice was introduced to Mabel’s boyfriend, Bart. He was a tall, strong young man with dark hair and dark eyes and very strong hands. Unlike his three very elegant companions, he was shabbily dressed and his shoes looked worn, but Mabel didn’t seem to care. In fact she looked very proud of him, and she was always glowing by his side. Bart too didn’t seem embarrassed by his clothes and joked merrily with Mabel. Alice thought it must be nice to be so much in love as not to notice things like clothes and fashion. She realised that for her a man had to be first of all well dressed.
Alice didn’t stay long with these friends, though she greatly enjoyed their company. She knew people everywhere and she found it her duty to spend time with each of them and to let herself be introduced to their acquaintances. She passed from group to group and chatted with everyone. She was pleased to see that, even at such a large and mixed party, they were all having a good time. Well, not all of them. Crossing a room she noticed a young man standing by the wall. He seemed bored and tired and had a vacant look in his eyes. For some reason Alice found him familiar. The she remembered. She had a good memory, so she could remember well people she had seen only once. Even though the darkness was hiding his features, she was certain he was the young painter she had seen in the park. She stopped in the middle of the room to look at him more carefully. His hair was still untidy, but his clothes were decent for the occasion. They looked new, but he had an awkward way of moving, as if he weren’t used to be dressed like that, almost like a child in a grown-up’s clothes. Unlike that autumn morning, he was very pale, and his cheeks were a bit hollow, making his eyes stand out even more.
“George!”
A short, stout girl in an elegant dress and high stiletto heels approached him and grabbed his arm.
“George, dance with me!”
The young man followed her reluctantly and she kissed him.
“So this must be his girlfriend,” Alice though. She felt they didn’t make a good couple. Somehow she could see the girlfriend with a snob in designer clothes, but not with a struggling artist.
But she didn’t have the time to think about it, she still had people to see, to talk to, and the night was drawing to a close. Already people were too drunk to make sensible conversation and her feet hurt.
She arrived home late in the morning and threw herself on the bed still wearing the dress and makeup. She had led this life of parties for over a year and, somehow, she felt tired and empty. She couldn’t fall asleep right away, so she thought about the past year. What had she achieved? Nothing stood out of the long trail of parties. Out there, there were people making things, people her age, like Mabel, who had already done so much in life. Alice felt she wanted to do something too. But her mind was already foggy, so she couldn’t decide what. She thought she would think about it later, and she fell asleep.

Chapter 7 - Hair

Alice didn’t think about doing something again. When she woke up in the evening Sarah called her to another party and she went without giving it a second though. After all, empty as it was, this lifestyle was fun. She continued her life as before, studying just to barely pass exams, shopping in the afternoon and going out every night. Her parents wondered what she would do in life, how she would adapt to having a full time day job, but she never thought about the future.
She went regularly to her hairdresser. He was a pleasant young man who talked a lot while he worked but always managed to get the best results. Even when she had gone to Julia’s beauty parlour her hair hadn’t looked so good.
“You have such a beautiful hair,” he noticed one day while he was cutting it. Long hair was in fashion and Alice’s wavy chestnut hair looked its best like that. “Won’t you come with me to the hairstylists’ contest next week?”
Alice had never thought that he was competing in a contest. She had always assumed that this job was to him just work, a boring work that paid the bills. It turned out it was a real passion.
“If you come with me,” he continued, “I’m sure I can win the first prize.”
Alice now found out that one could be ambitious about cutting hair. She would have thought he was making a pass at her with that line, but she remembered she had heard somewhere that he had a boyfriend.
“Will you cut my hair there?” she asked. Somehow she wanted to help, but not if it meant losing her fashionable look.
“Yes. I’ll cut it really beautiful. You’ll see, you’ll like it. Please say you’ll come!”
“How will you cut it? Not too short I hope.”
“Short on one side and long on the other. It’s very stylish. Everyone will envy you.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’m willing to have it cut like that,” Alice retorted as gently as she could.
“Nobody wants to come with me!” he complained. “Everyone I’ve asked has said the same thing.”
Alice thought it was only natural. After all, girls with long hair didn’t want it shortened, and the haircut he was proposing was too artistic to be worn on a regular basis. The only compromise a girl could have made was to have her hair cut like that for the competition, and have it cut again into something more regular afterwards. Even so, it was too much trouble.
The hairdresser looked sad. Alice thought about the contest. All those ambitious hair stylists wanting to have their creations recognized as art. The idea was new to her, but alluring. After all, what they did was beautiful, and art was meant to be beautiful. She hoped in her heart that he would find someone to go with him. She looked at her reflection in the mirror and she felt he deserved the first prize.

Chapter 8 - Painting

Alice and Mabel had become close friends. Every time Alice went to the shop, Mabel came out of her atelier to chat with her and took her to the small café where they had cake together. Mabel knew the cook and he would sometimes join them at the table. His name was Ralph and Alice thought him pleasant. Mabel didn’t go to parties much because she was always working. She said she preferred making a new design alone to being in a room full of smoke and noise. For someone who loved people so much, it didn’t really make sense, but Alice accepted it. Even now when she could afford someone else to make the clothes for her, Mabel preferred to do everything with her own hands. She said it made her feel like she was really making something tangible, not just drawing dreams, as she called her designs. They certainly were dreamy.
“Would you like to go to a painting exhibition on Sunday?” Mabel suddenly asked one day in between two bites of strawberry cake.
Alice thought it would be the most boring Sunday of her life, but she couldn’t refuse. She had so few chances to spend time with Mabel and she wanted to see her more. So on Sunday morning she met with Mabel, Marilyn and Geraldine in front of an obscure art gallery. Bart had already seen it, Mabel said, and Geraldine’s boyfriend had no interest in art, so it was going to be just the girls.
“And we can all go and have a piece of cake together afterwards!” Mabel concluded excitedly.
When she entered the gallery, Alice felt she had stepped into a different world. Everywhere there were windows to a parallel reality, bursting with colour. They were all landscapes and Alice recognized places from the city, but transformed, beautified and rendered special, magical. Mabel had to drag her from every painting because Marilyn was setting the pace too fast. And suddenly Alice’s heart stopped. There, among many others, there was the painting she had seen being made one foggy autumn morning. She should have recognized the style right away, she thought. The sight triggered memories of that day and of the painter, then her mind slipped to the New Year’s party, to that girl who was with him, to the morning after. She had taken a decision that morning, before falling asleep, but what? She had decided to – And Mabel pulled again at her arm and her thoughts dispersed in front of the next scene. It was a fountain that lay, as Alice remembered, in a crowded plaza. The fountain stood majestic in detail, glittering and casting rainbows in the sun. But there was something missing. She noticed now that there were no people in any of his paintings. It was a deserted world made entirely of nature and objects. She wondered why. Then, before she could think of an answer, there was another pull at her arm and she found herself before Mabel’s shop. The old building had a bright aura and the clothes were bursting through the windows.
“That’s Ma Belle!” Alice exclaimed in surprise.
“Yes, George made it for me. After the exhibition I’m buying it,” Mabel answered proudly.
“George?”
“George Smith, the artist. He’s a friend of Bart’s. They’ve been at the same high school. He came to the New Year’s party as well. I thought you’ve met him, you seemed to know everyone there.”
“No,” Alice mumbled. She wanted so badly to have been introduced to him, she didn’t know herself why.
“Oh, well, I’ll introduce you some time then. He’s a wonderful person. He doesn’t like people much, so he’s not here, he’s hiding in his atelier right now, but I’ll force him to come to my birthday party. Bart has to kidnap him for it every year, but George has grown used to it. And Miss Millie is getting him out in the world often now. You are coming to my birthday party, aren’t you?”
Alice hadn’t been invited. Nor did she know when it was. She excused herself for her ignorance.
“Oh, of course you are invited,” Mabel replied. “I’m sorry I forgot. It was so obvious that you’d be invited that I forgot to tell you. It’s on the thirteenth. I’m having it at the Cream.”
Cream was the café where they always had cakes. Alice was anticipating strawberry cake to be the main dish.
“Will you come?”
Alice said yes and Mabel hugged her.

Alice bought a new Ma Belle dress for Mabel’s birthday party. And against her decision she went to Julia’s beauty parlour for her makeup. At the same time she kept telling herself that it was all useless because George already had a girlfriend. Alice had asked Mabel who Miss Millie was.
“Oh, she’s George’s girlfriend,” came the answer.
Alice felt Mabel didn’t like her much.
“She’s an accountant,” Mabel continued, “but she paints in her spare time. She has to have a social life because she needs to get on well with everyone at the office, so she has been dragging George to quite a few parties lately.”
“I don’t know what he finds in her,” Geraldine pinched in. “She’s such a snob! How can he stand her? He never comes to our parties.”
So that was it. That girl who was with him that night was Miss Millie, Millicent Rose, as she was told. And she was not the only one to think that they did not make a good couple. Although Alice suddenly realized he wouldn’t have made a better couple with her either. She was just another partygoer, not as snob, but not a painter either. Maybe Miss Millie was really a misunderstood artist. After all, she had to earn money somehow, and art couldn’t sell very well. George was obviously broke, but for a girl to be hollow cheeked and to walk around in worn out clothes was unacceptable. So Miss Millie was working as an accountant and taking care of her career so she could afford to live and paint. While Alice wasn’t doing anything with her life.
“If you frown you’ll ruin my effect,” Alphonse scolded her. “If you must be upset, try to pout. It makes your lips bigger.”
Alice thought that was insensitive of him.

Miss Millie proved to be absolutely obnoxious. She was always hanging onto George’s arm and kissing him. Even at the table she needed to have a firm grip on his arm, which made it hard for him to eat. When this became obvious, instead of releasing him, she began taking the cake to his mouth with her spare hand. George turned all red and said he was full.
She was indeed a snob, and very conceited. Her birthday present to Mabel was a portrait made by herself. It was very accurate, like a photograph, but Alice couldn’t find anything special about it. Mabel too wasn’t excited about the gift. She told Alice she already had the photograph it had been made after. Apparently Miss Millie liked to work after photographs. While George took his easel outside to paint, she took her camera.
Alice tried to talk to George a few times, but he wasn’t talkative. What was worse, Miss Millie cut in every time and answered in his place. In spite of the stunning dress and makeup, Alice felt she hadn’t made any impression on him.