On the Brink of Paris by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel Read Free Book Online Page A

McGrath, Future Corporate Executive and World Leader, who is always at my side?”
    Charlotte just shook her head.
    â€œBut that’s the thing, Lily. I won’t always be at your side.”
    â€œAre we talking about college? Because that’s YEARS away,” I said. “Besides which, I still think we stand a very good chance of finding a college that offers both a world-class corporate education AND an outstanding creative writing program. We’ll be roommates!”
    Charlotte smiled.
    â€œThat would be cool, Lily. But what if we’re not? You have to stop relying on me so much. I don’t mean to hurt your feelings, but you flounder when I’m not around. Or worse. Remember when I went away to Young Executive Camp last summer? You were on your own for what, three weeks? And what happened?”
    Oh, come on. It wasn’t THAT bad. There was that little problem with hotel security, true. There was at some point police involvement. And, okay, there was the lawsuit, and the depositions, and the attorneys. Some trouble with inappropriate credit card use. Oh yeah, and a brush with Blennerhasset Bankruptcy and Ruination. But then everything got fixed. Around the time…around the time that Charlotte came home.
    It was obviously time for an Abrupt Subject Change.
    â€œI totally forgot to ask how your Unilever stock was doing!” I exclaimed.
    Charlotte had purchased some stock with her own money and passionately followed its ups and downs in the newspaper. It was a subject we both knew perfectly well she could not resist discussing. And technically it was a Detail. I had Oriented a Detail.
    â€œWell, actually, I was just reading about that,” Charlotte said, rattling her Wall Street Journal for emphasis. “The effect of corn growth on the world market just boggles the mind.”
    I listened with enthusiasm, though Charlotte’s animated discussion of the impact of rainfall on long-term interest rates was something we both knew I could never even vaguely understand. Instead, I just enjoyed watching Charlotte in her element. I didn’t need to be able to understand the stock market to know how smart Charlotte was. I didn’t need to know what a pork belly future was to see that Charlotte already knew what she wanted to do in life, that she was going to be aces at it, and that her work would make her happy.
    How I admire Charlotte McGrath.
    Through the window I could see French things speeding by in a blur. The sun was low in the sky. I realized once again how thoroughly exhausted I was. And absolutely no closer to beginning the Great Parisian Novel. Maybe tomorrow I would find some gems and nuggets. I realized Charlotte hadn’t answered my questions aboutour upcoming agenda, so I still had no idea where we were going tomorrow. But I certainly wasn’t going to ask Charlotte again. She was positively glowing after her analysis of the effect of corn products on Unilever’s stock price. Tomorrow would just have to be a surprise. I’d follow everybody like I always do, and when we got where we were going, I’d know where we were.
    Really, what could be simpler?
    FROM THE PARISIAN DIARY OF
Lily M. Blennerhassett
    Ah, Paris. How like a carnival! How it leaves one feeling giddy and breathless as a child!

Five
    A s it turned out, I didn’t need Charlotte for information about what the next day had in store for us. Madame Chavotte paid us a visit in our room before breakfast and told us repeatedly that she had booked us on a group tour at Paris’s most famous museum, the Louvre, beginning at one P.M . sharp. Yay! Educational, and GUARANTEED to provide gems and nuggets! Although having not read the sheet in the information packet, I could only assume this to be the case.
    We would have the morning to ourselves and would be permitted to explore our neighborhood WITH THE STRICT PROVISION that we remain all together or in two groups, boys and girls. No