Free Stories from New York #3 by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

to say to somebody that famous?
    There were lots of people going into the lobby with us—everybody carrying coffee or a bagel and looking fresh-faced and ready for another day. We had to stop at security again and get new photo identification badges, but soon we were packed into an elevator on our way up to the office. It smelled like perfume and coffee and blueberry muffins.
    Mrs. Scanlon took us to the same floor we had first come to yesterday. The receptionist was already there signing for a package while answering the phone and looking as if she had never left her desk all night, except for the fact that she had on a different outfit. When she saw Mrs. Scanlon, she waved us through, still talking on the phone.
    “So we’ll be in the main conference room with the lighting designer and…oh, hang on.”
    Her phone was ringing, and she answered it quickly.
    “I am going to scream when I see Quincy Vanderstan,” Tally told us.
    “Tally!” Miko and Ivy said simultaneously.
    “Oh, I don’t mean out loud,” Tally corrected. “I’m going to scream inside my brain.”
    “Guys, seriously, now that we know who she is, we need to come up with our questions. I think we should all share them in advance to make sure two of us aren’t going to ask the same thing,” I suggested. “I know we all came up with possibilities, but that was when we had absolutely no idea who the person was. I honestly don’t like any of the ones I thought of.”
    “You’re right,” Ivy said. “Let’s…” Her voice trailed off. Her mom had just gotten off the phone and was standing with one hand pressed to her head.
    “Mom? Is everything okay?” Ivy asked.
    Mrs. Scanlon dropped her hand away from her face. “Oh, there’s just a bit of a problem, apparently. I was just telling you these things happen, but it’s awfully early in the morning for things to go wrong. Anyway, I’ve got to go help sort this out. Under the circumstances, I think it might be better if you didn’t come along for the pre-shoot meeting just yet. Hopefully this will all get set right shortly. Can I ask you all to just sit tight for a bit?”
    “Sure. We can go to the intern room and wait there,” Ivy said.
    “I’ll text you or come and get you as soon as we’re back on track,” Mrs. Scanlon said, doubling backtoward the elevator. “Sorry! But such is life at
City Nation
!”
    “That didn’t sound good. What do you think is going on?” I asked Ivy as we followed her toward the interns’ office.
    “Oh, you wouldn’t believe the things that happen,” Ivy told us. “Mom said one time they had special lights flown in from Paris and no electrical adapters to make them work. Nobody had thought of that. Another time there was a mouse in the studio, and the photographer just up and quit right on the spot. But usually it’s something easier to deal with. I’m sure it will be fine.”
    The interns’ office was empty when we got there. We each sat down at a desk. Tally put her feet up on the desk and looked around.
    “Do you think Helvetica Grenier ever had to work in a little office like this?” she asked.
    “She actually did,” Ivy said. “She started as an intern in the mail room. Then she got a job as a secretary.”
    “Wow. That’s impressive,” Miko said. “I wonder if—”
    The door to our little office burst open, and Garamond rushed in. He looked kind of agitated, dressed all in black as he had been the day before. I wondered how many all-black outfits he owned.
    “Has anyone been here?” he asked.
    We looked at each other. “Since this morning?” Ivy asked.
    “Since ever!” Garamond said. He was actually wringing his hands together.
    “The office was empty when we got here,” Miko said. “But we only just came in.”
    Garamond turned to go without a word, then stopped. “Call me if you see anything!” he said, then he rushed out the door.
    Ivy and I stared at each other.
    “Call him if we see WHAT?” I asked. “Do you