Nancy’s Theory of Style Read Online Free PDF

the
claustrophobic elevator, pulling the suitcase after her, wondering why Miss
Winkles smelled so deliciously like a patisserie, until she spotted the white
cardboard box in her shopping bag.
    Nancy politely observed, “Very nice weather.”
    “It’s the same as yesterday and will be
the same tomorrow. What are you doing with all this luggage? Running away from
that husband of yours?”
    Nancy continued to smile. A lady was respectful
to her elders. “I’ll be staying here while I establish my event planning
business, Froth. Todd is being unbelievably patient with this brief respite! We
have a modern relationship.”
    Miss Winkles snorted. “Nothing new hidden
in the fog, Girl Carrington. One of my sisters, I don’t recall if it was Dody
or Ferny, dated a Chambers, some relation to your fellow. He played the ponies
and had a weakness for light opera.”
    According to Miss Winkles, the last of
the famous Winkles Triplets to remain in San
Francisco , she and her sisters had dated everyone and
knew all their unsavory habits, be it mass murder or a fondness for Gilbert and
Sullivan.
    “There’s nothing wrong with that,” Nancy said, nonetheless
thinking about Todd’s appearance in the chorus of “The H.M.S Pinafore” during
campus follies. The elevator bell dinged softly for the fourth floor. “It’s
always wonderful seeing you!”
    Nancy pulled her suitcase out of the
elevator, leaving Miss Winkles to go up to her four-bedroom penthouse apartment
with 360 degree views and a terrace. The Winkles Triplets had taken the flat in
their heyday, when they’d been sought after for every advertisement and public
function.
    Sometimes Nancy fantasized about cutting the elevator
line. She’d hear Miss Winkles’ muffled shriek of terror and the building would
shudder as the elevator hit the garage level. There would be a somber city-wide
day of mourning for the icon, and after a respectful week or so, Nancy would take
possession of the top-floor.
    The penthouse was even big enough for a
married couple, she thought before realizing that it wasn’t big enough for Todd.
He liked owning a swimming pool, home gym, movie room, and game room, so Miss
Winkles was safe for one more day.

Chapter 3: Creating Ambiance & Mood
     
    As soon as Nancy walked into her one-bedroom apartment,
she felt a wave of melancholy. She’d painted the walls sea-green with ivory
trim, like the sea and sand of her honeymoon. When she’d married, she’d
replaced her pink velvet furniture with Louis XVI reproductions in mahogany,
which weren’t nearly as amusing, but much more appropriate for Mrs. Todd
Carrington-Chambers.
    Nancy opened the sash windows to air out the
rooms and unpacked and put everything away, because she couldn’t function
without perfect order. “Order brings harmony, and harmony brings happiness,”
she said aloud and then jotted the sentence in a black-and-white pasteboard
composition book.
    The notebook, which was titled Theory of
Style, was filled with her opinions about style and beauty. Most of what she
wrote had been said before by someone bitchier and wittier; but the individual
comments weren’t as important as the process. Nancy was waiting for some great truth to
reveal itself to her like the concept of gravity to Sir Isaac Newton – in a single
blinding epiphany.
    She placed the notebook back on her writing
table, beside the silver dish of Froth business cards. When she ran her finger
over a letterpress card, white with sea-green type, she noticed that her Louis
Ghost Chair was a little dusty, so she went to the laundry room, one of the
luxuries of this city apartment, and took out the vacuum cleaner, duster, and
polishing rags. In 30 minutes, the rooms were up to her standards.
    Nancy was hungry so she went to her small
kitchen and opened the retro buttercup yellow refrigerator. She surveyed the
neatly arranged bottles of water and picked out the one at the top left hand
corner. She then shifted the remaining