I froze for a few seconds, confused, and looked at her. “What?”
She hesitated, as if she were too embarrassed to speak, but the man next to her said, “This lady is like Bernice Miller. And She has a much better temperament.”
For a moment, someone looked tentatively at Jackie and said, “Are you going to…?”
Jackie nodded and looked at me. “Clara, you have the same features as Bernice Miller, but you have a better temperament. If we don’t shoot the propaganda film today, the George Group will suffer a loss, and then if Mr. George asks who is responsible, I may face the risk of losing my job. Can you do the shooting for me?
“Shoot a promo?” I hesitated. “I don’t know much about this, and I haven’t had much exposure to it before.”
“It doesn’t matter!” she said. “It’s not difficult. All you have to do is get dressed and stand up while the photographer guides you.”
I pressed my lips together and felt pity for her as she perspired slightly on her forehead.
Dulled for a moment, I nodded in agreement.
Perhaps because the trouble was out of the way, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Jackie grabbed me and said, “Thank you!” She was very serious.
As she led me toward the dressing room, she said something grateful, “I didn’t think you’d say yes. Mr. George wouldn’t have let you out in the open like this, but the timing was right. I was ready to beg you, Clara, thank you!”
She looked at me with an honest face.
I smiled, thinking she was exaggerating. “It’s a piece of cake. You don’t have to.”
She smiled. “You have no idea what your help means to me.”
In the dressing room, makeup artists and stylists had arrived, Jackie made the arrangements, and then she was called away to set up the scene.
I sat in front of the mirror, and the makeup artist looked at me and said, “Miss Kennedy, you and Bernice Miller really look like.”
I smiled and didn’t say much.
“They resemble each other in features, but not in spirit or manner.” Someone interrupted, “Miss Kennedy’s features were more natural, and Bernice Miller’s manner always gave me the odd impression that she was imitating a person.”
The makeup artist began to put on my makeup. Maybe people thought I was just a temporary stand-in, so they started talking unbridled.
“Imitation? I think she’s imitating Olivia Pearson, who was so well protected by Mr. George.”
“It’s possible. I heard that Miss Pearson was Mr. George’s secret mistress, and he kept her in his cottage all these years for fear she might get hurt.”
“How do you know that?”
“Wasn’t I assigned to make up this Miss Pearson at an auction? Bernice Miller is almost a model of her. They’re so much alike.”
They had a heated discussion, and I wondered if it was duty that Dennis had protected Olivia so well over the past four years.
They continued talking. “I hear Mr. George is getting engaged to this Miss Pearson. An insider says they are very sweet.”
“Is it true?”
“Of course, Mr. George and Miss Pearson were photographed kissing in the downtown square yesterday. But it seems only the back of Miss Pearson, who was identified as Bernice Miller at the time of the photo’s release.”
I unconsciously froze for a moment, kissing in the square?
“I don’t think that woman looked from the back like Miss Pearson, or Bernice Miller. The woman in the photo is obviously wearing cheap clothes! Both women are controversial. How could they just walk around the square? And, Bernice Miller in particular, she usually wears designer clothes. The clothes on that woman are obviously not big brands!”
Some were about to say something, but were interrupted by noises outside.
The makeup artist, who had done my makeup, looked at me and said, “Amazing! Miss Kennedy, you have such fine features, and such fine skin.”
I smiled and saw a group of people entering the dressing room, led by a woman who looked about forty.
She was in a bad mood. “Our Berny hasn’t come yet. Who allowed you to shoot with a double?”
“Miss Jones, I heard that Bernice was sick. She couldn’t make it today, so we decided to get a stand-in!” That was Cora, the head of the publicity department.
The woman called Miss Jones gave me a cold look and looked down her nose at me. “Berny is sick, but she didn’t say she was going to stop shooting. Look what kind of double you got, you really think you’re gonna be as good as Berny with makeup? It’s a monkey business.”
“Go get Berny out of the car,” she said, raising her hand to the young assistant who was following her. “The makeup artist and stylist will get ready to change Berny’s makeup.”
The makeup artist and the stylist were a little embarrassed and said, “Miss Jones, but we’ve given instructions to ask Miss Kennedy to shoot. We’ve got the look and makeup done, and we’re ready to shoot. If we try to do it again, it’s going to take us a while.”
“How valuable is your time? Are they as valuable as Berny’s? Is it hard to restyle the makeup? Do you really think a replacement could make a promo as high-end as the George Group?” The woman called Miss Jones gave me a particularly dismissive look.
She sneered, “She really thinks she can compete with Berny because she’s a bit like her? She is nothing but an inferior imitation.”
This was plain and simple personal assault.
“Nelly Jones, when did you get so mean?” Jackie, who had come from outside, walked up to me, patted the back of my hand and said, “Are you okay?”
I shook my head calmly. I got used to this four years ago.
When Jackie showed up, Nelly Jones sneered, “I was wondering who it was. What are you, Miss Wells, a director of marketing, doing in the publicity department?”
After years in business, Jackie was good at dealing with people like her, “Since when do you, Nelly Jones, an agent, get to tell the George Group’s announcement department what to do? At least I work for the George Group. But Nelly Jones, what are you? According to Mr. George, you’re just Bernice Miller’s personal agent, which, frankly, has nothing to do with the George Group.”
“You…” Nelly Jones’s chest heaved with anger, “It seems that you are not going to continue to work with our Berny, and we need to ask Mr. George to discuss whether our Berny belongs to the George Group.”
That seems to be a bit of a twist on Jackie’s meaning. With a sneer, Jackie ignored her and looked at the photographer and said, “Makeup and look are done. Get ready to shoot. Now, the field controller, remove the irrelevant person from the field.”