The Crasher Read Online Free PDF Page A

slink away to the exit, as Robespier marched up to the screen and screamed, “Who
     is this? What are you doing here?”
    To her horror, her mother began to say all the things she’d fantasized hearing.
    “I do apologize, Monsieur, but this is my young daughter, Ginny. She—she is such an admirer of yours, she begged to be allowed
     to see your genius at work. I am really very sorry.”
    Ginny looked at the floor to fight off another fit of giggles. Everything had happened so quickly, she’d never removed the
     turban.
    She was blushing. She could feel the creepy crawly blush spread from her collarbone as Robespier obviously swallowed every
     word, and began to smile, showing pale pink gums above a row of achingly perfect small white teeth.
    “Come out from your hiding place. Bring your chair. Ah! What an interesting… chapeau.” Now Ginny really didn’t know where
     to look.
    It took another agonizing thirty minutes before the fishtail was declared fit for human consumption.
    “Do you still want to go to NorthPark? I’m exhausted.”
    “Mother, you promised… you promised…”
    “Oh, God. Oh, well, I’ll drive you there, but I’m not coming in. If you find Toby, let me know, then you can go home with
     her.”
    “You really are the best mother in the world.” Ginny hugged her, although it was obvious her mother didn’t want to be hugged.
     “I hate you having to put up with people like that,” she said, in a small apologetic voice.
    “People like that!” Virginia mimicked. “I thought you wanted to run off with ‘people like that’—people like Paul Robespier,
     the genius.”
    “Genius! Ugh! I’ve never seen such hid-e-ous clothes. If it wasn’t for you Mrs. Heathering Derrière wouldn’t have been able
     to move a step in that joke of a dress.”
    Virginia shook her head reprovingly. “Ginny, don’t be rude.” Then, “Do you know what that dress cost?”
    “Millions.”
    “Not quite, but the alterations alone cost nearly five hundred bucks.”
    “I can’t believe it.” But Ginny was no longer interested in what Robespier was able to get away with. She caught sight of
     the time. “We’ve really got to get going, Ma. MTV will be there any minute.”
    “I’m not moving until you take that thing off your head.”
    “But Robespier said…” They both started to shriek with laughter.
    “Okay, Mother, you win.” She pulled the turban off so violently, half the swim cap ripped as it came off, too. With her mother
     still howling with laughter, Ginny opened her sewing kit purse to flourish the box of Supreme Sable Lashes. “These cost a
     fortune, too, five dollars and seventy-five cents. Mrs. Heathering D. will never be chic, however many millions she spends,
     but I bet these will get me on MTV!”
    Virginia found a parking spot at the huge NorthPark Mall and Ginny leaned over to get the camel hair coat from the back seat.
    “Who told you you could borrow my coat?”
    “I thought you did.”
    When Ginny got out of the car and nervously put the coat on, Virginia didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
    “Don’t you agree… it’s… better this way?” Ginny looked in anguish, waiting for her mother’s reaction.
    Her mother shook her head resignedly. “Yes, baby, it looks great. You can have it”—she started to laugh again—“for your birthday.
     Now don’t be long. It’s been quite a day and we’ve got to get home to get your father’s supper. You’ve got forty-five minutes
     max to be one of MTV’s chic.”
    Ginny’s face lit up, a mixture of relief and excitement. She blew an airy kiss to her mother. “Wish me luck,” she yelled,
     striding off, as if she’d just been given the world.
    Virginia watched Ginny cross the parking lot in her renovated coat. She bit her lip. The feeling of defeat was back. Like
     father, like daughter. However hard she tried to explainthings to Ginny, there were too many indications she had inherited or absorbed Graham’s