Free 21 Steps to Happiness by F. G. Gerson Page B

light. Artificial streams of blue-colored water run along moss and bonsai trees. Oriental New Age music plays in the background. We feel Zen sipping our Bloody Marys and chewing celery.
    In the middle of this Japanese garden lies a huge condo that seems to be built out of rice paper and wood. All this is perfectly mind-blowing, of course, because we’re actually in the middle of Paris and on the property of the famous Japanese designer Kazo, you know….
    â€œKazo, you know…spends most of his time in Paris. This house is a reflection of his creative madness. Sa folie! ” Jean-André explained to me.
    Kazo’s not here. Kazo is drinking his own Bloody Marys in Los Angeles and, like us, celebrating the twenty-year anniversary of Kazo Fashion.
    Amazing dresses and garments are suspended in the air all around the garden. Tall beautiful models are drinking pink, red and blue cocktails while sucking sushi canapés passed around by hunky waiters.
    â€œHey, I love your dress,” a tall blond girl passing by says out of the blue. “Calvin Klein?”
    â€œJodie Blanchett,” I say.
    I never thought I could ever put on one of Jodie’s garments. But I’ve been so malnourished since my arrival in Paris that I slid into this one like a wet piece of soap.
    â€œVery cute!”
    She smiles at me. She’s extremely cute, too. God, is she flirting with me? Is everyone in this business so sexually ambiguous, or is it just me?
    â€œYou must know Clarice, everybody knows Clarice,” Muriel says. Out of nowhere Muriel has materialized at my side.
    â€œI’m Clarice Kleron.” The tall blonde gives me her hand and giggles.
    â€œThis is Lynn,” Muriel presents me. “Lynn est une perle.”
    I am a pearl. That’s how Muriel presents me to everybody. I’m the pearl that she found in New York and dragged back to Paris.
    â€œYeah, I’ve heard about you,” Clarice says to me. “You’re Jodie Blanchett’s daughter.”
    â€œWhen did you hear about me?”
    â€œWell, tonight. I’m going to the Gucci party after, would you like to come?”
    I’m getting picked up by a beautiful blonde!
    â€œNot tonight, sorry,” I say. “I have to work tomorrow.”
    â€œPity,” she whispers and walks away.
    â€œAmerican women are going to conquer the world,” Jean-André laughs out. “They can’t cook, they can’t fuck, but they conduct business better than any man.”
    Is that a compliment? No time to ask because Jean-André keeps talking.
    â€œKazo, you know…thinks that the next American president will be a woman. Somebody just like you, Lynn. A pearl.”
    â€œWould you excuse me, Jean-André?” Muriel interrupts. “You might pass on Clarice,” she whispers to me, “but I want to go to the Gucci party with her.” She walks away and goes after my girl.
    â€œAlone at last,” Jean-André says. “I know somebody that’s dying to meet you.”
    Kazo?
    â€œI know what you’re thinking. No, it’s not Kazo, you know…. You will meet him one day, don’t worry. Kazo, you know…loves to meet talented people like you.”
    Jean-André walks me inside the condo. He pushes one of the sliding walls and invites me to walk inside a secluded room.
    â€œSit, Lynn, sit.”
    There’s no chair, of course. If your business is to manufacture and sell chairs, forget about Paris. They all sit on the floor and pretend to be Japanese these days.
    Jean-André slides the wall shut and I find myself face-to-face with a very fat man, lying on the floor like some Roman emperor, picking on a food platter laid in front of him.
    â€œThis is Xavier Urbain, you know, the founder of Xu.”
    â€œOf course,” I say, but I have absolutely no idea what Xu is.
    â€œI am pleased to meet you, Lynn. We heard a lot about you,” the fat man says