New York Valentine Part 16

Elena was desperate to take a look at the fabric, but she was too busy holding up Annie's legs.

'I'm going to have to go in,' Annie decided: 'there's more stuff over in the corner.'

'No, Annie, not into the beeeen,' Elena warned, sounding horrified.

'Yes, into the beeeeeeeen,' Annie said, imitating Elena's accent as she scrambled forward and managed to swing one leg and the patent high heel at the end of it over the edge of the skip. This is tricky, she thought, as she wobbled dangerously above the concrete floor. But with another push, she was slithering down into the skip, dress snagging on the rough metal sides.

Very gingerly, she picked her way over the bin bags and rolls of nasty nylon and netting until she was close to the remaining rolls of material in the corner.

I'm in a skip, she told herself, where I'm 'sourcing' 'unique', 'limited edition' dress fabric for a truly 'one-off' collection. Oh the glamour!

'Annie!'

Elena's voice sounded extremely anxious.

'Yes?'

'There's a dog! There's a very big, big dog! And he coming this way!'

'You have to have the New England clam chowder. Do you like clams?'

Before Lana could reply to Taylor's question, he was off again: 'Or maybe the lobster salad. Seriously, it's better here than anywhere else on the Eastern seaboard. The fish and seafood at this place is the best. The best!'

The waiter hovering at Taylor's elbow beamed with pleasure: 'That's very kind of you, sir.'

'Hey, I'm only telling the truth,' Taylor grinned at him.

Lana was so in awe of everything that she could hardly speak.

Here she was in a proper fancy, grown-up restaurant with starchy white tablecloths, wine buckets, waiters in full dress ... and with the most sophisticated guy she'd ever met.

He was only 20, she'd established that. He was still at university 'college' as they called it over here but he was spending his summer vacation in Manhattan working at Vogue (his mom had a little connection, apparently).

Only 20, but he already knew where the best seafood restaurant was and how to get a good table on a busy lunchtime. And he was taking her out to lunch!

'You order for me,' Lana said, glancing up shyly from the menu.

Taylor did, then told the waiter, 'Well, we don't want to be carded, so we better drink mineral water. Do you have the Apollinaris?'

'Yes sir, an excellent choice. The champagne of mineral waters.'

'Exactly!'

Lana restrained her mouth from gawping open. The champagne of mineral waters! Jeeeeeeeeez.

'Didn't you just love the library tour?' Taylor asked, turning to her with his utmost attention.

'Oh yes,' she replied, 'it was wonderful. Thank you for letting me come along.'

'So what are you doing tonight?' Taylor's bright eyes were so intense, Lana could hardly look into them for more than a moment or two.

'Tonight?' she repeated, trying not to squeak.

'I want to spend as much time with you as I can,' Taylor said, reaching over to touch her arm.

Then Lana felt a physical symptom she'd never experienced before. The blood rushed and stuttered in her chest with excitement and it really did feel as if her heart had fluttered.

'Your lobster salad, Miss,' the waiter announced. He lifted the huge silver lid from the dish and set it down in front of Lana. Then her crystal gla.s.s was filled with the extravagant fizzing water.

Glancing at the next table, Lana saw two women in designer suits and power jewellery gossiping over salads. One had a bright yellow ostrich skin Hermes bag perched in her lap.

Could this be any more glamorous?

Annie heard a clang as the tip of Elena's pointy shoe hit the side of the skip. Then came an undignified scrambling sound, and finally Elena appeared, then tumbled straight down into the bin bags and roll ends.

Annie looked out across the car park and saw a huge black and brown beast running at full stretch towards them.

The chain collar around his neck clinked ominously as he bounded up. When he reached the foot of the skip, he began to bark ferociously.

'I'm sure he's all talk and no trousers,' Annie said loudly, trying to be heard over the furious barking.

Good grief! Look at the beast! Foamy saliva was flecking the dog's jaws as he barked and barked like a mad thing.

'I never used to like dogs, but we have one now and they're really not that bad. They just like food ... all they're ever after is food,' Annie said, trying to sound as calm as she possibly could while she wondered how on earth they were going to get away from the Hound of the Baskervilles down there.

Elena was cowering low. She was obviously not a doggie person.

'h.e.l.lo boy, h.e.l.lo there. Good boy,' Annie said over the edge of the skip, in the brightly cheerful, slightly insane tone she'd heard doggie people use.

The dog stopped barking, sat down and looked at her expectantly.

'See, he's not so bad.'

'No, no ...' Elena said in a whimper, still crouching down in the rubbish.

Unless Annie could think of a way of getting rid of the dog, it looked like they would be stuck in the skip for some time. She wondered if there was a security guard somewhere ... but then he probably wouldn't exactly be impressed to find two Manhattan fas.h.i.+on types going through his trash.

She looked at the scrunched up takeaway packaging dotted across the skip. Maybe she could find some sc.r.a.ps of food in one of those that would pacify the dog?

As she reached over to pick up one of the bags and look inside, it seemed to stir, rustling slightly. She hesitated for a moment, but then, determined, she reached over and s.n.a.t.c.hed it up.

She didn't mean to shriek, but she couldn't help it: when you see the big brown furry back of an ugly urban super-rat, instinct takes over.

'Aaaaaaargh!!!'

'What?!' Elena jumped up, horrified.

'There's a ... mouse ... a small mouse,' Annie exclaimed, trying to play it down, but now her flesh was crawling and more than anything she wanted to get out of this place. She was wearing peep-toes! Any moment now she might feel rat fur brus.h.i.+ng against her bare feet.

Uuuurgh!

'I'm going to give the dog the hamburger leftovers in here' she held up the rustling bag 'and see if I can get him to like me.'

Given the choice between dogs and rats, Annie would try her luck with the dog any time. Gingerly, she reached inside the bag, feeling for the cold, greasy sc.r.a.ps of burger and fries and hoping she wasn't going to come across another horror: a dead rat bit or live rat baby.

'Here boy, good dog,' she said, tossing the bit of mouldy chicken nugget or whatever it was to the ground.

The dog wolfed it down, then looked up at her expectantly. Were they making friends? Or was the dog just hoping she would taste as good as that?

The big brute began to bark again, loudly, as if to tell her off for not giving him enough food.

Annie glanced back into the skip. Carefully, she picked up another food bag, but this one was empty. Then with a lurch of horror, she caught sight of the rat again. Or maybe it was another rat! Maybe this whole skip was teeming with them!

Help! She had to get out of here.

And that was when the idea sprang into her mind. It was one of those terrible ideas: the kind of idea which has too many problems, too many reasons why it might not work. So Annie acted quickly, instinctively, before she could talk herself out of it. She grabbed hold of the handle of the old spade lying in the skip.

Then she lunged for the rat, whimpering a little in horror ... What if he ran up the spade handle?! On to her arms! She would faint. She really would.

But the big fat rat, heavier than she expected, was now on the spade.

Elena must have seen him because now she began to scream.

With a mighty effort, Annie swung the spade and launched the rat into the air. 'Grab the rolls!' she instructed Elena.

Meanwhile, Annie watched as the rat spun and twisted, its horrible tail flexing. She wasn't sure if it would splat and die on impact, but she scrambled for the fabric rolls close to her feet as she watched.

The rat landed and for a moment was very still.

Dead? she wondered.

No. The dog heard it land and, as Annie had wildly hoped, ran over towards it.

Now, exactly as she'd wanted, the rat raced off and the dog bounded after it.

'Quick!' she urged Elena.

The rat scurried under another skip a good 50 metres away and the dog, tail up in the air, stiff with excitement, began to bark and claw at the gap between the skip and the ground.

Now was definitely their chance. Annie heaved herself, her heels and her handbag over the rusty, flaky edge of the skip. She dangled for a moment, then let herself drop the two feet or so to the ground.

'Owww!'

She twisted her left ankle as she came down onto her heels. Next time she went out to source 'one-off' fabrics for a special collection she would wear a much, much more sensible outfit.

With shaking hands, Elena pa.s.sed down the remaining rolls. Then, because Elena had maybe decided there was only one great big Brooklyn rat in that skip, she began rummaging deep down in search of more of the usable fabric.

These weren't big, supersized rolls. At a guess, there was somewhere between 15 to 20 metres of fabric on each one. Still, they'd now managed to find nine rolls: four navy, two grey and three a surprisingly nice bright magenta. How they were going to carry them out of the car park, even without the attentions of the guard dog, was another matter.

Elena scrambled down from the skip and stood breathlessly beside Annie, brus.h.i.+ng her outfit down and looking about anxiously for the dog.

'He's very busy with the rat over there,' Annie said, 'I think we'll be OK.'

Elena bent down, tucked two rolls under one arm, three under the other and stood up. The weight was considerable. Annie loaded up with the remaining four rolls.

'OK?'

'Fine,' Elena answered, but she sounded shaky and close to tears. She really was very frightened of that dog.

'Don't run,' Annie instructed, 'just walk as calmly and quietly as you can.'

They were just a few metres from the gate when the dog looked up from his rat-worrying.

'Oh no! No!' Elena whimpered.

'Keep walking,' Annie hissed. She didn't look round, just kept marching towards the gate as quickly as she could.

For a moment, the dog stood still, watching them and figuring out what was happening. Then with an outraged yowl, he began to run towards them, his huge chain collar rattling from side to side with every bound.

Annie and Elena, still clutching their rolls of material, dived for the gate. As Elena slammed it shut, Annie shot the bolt just as the dog made a leap for them. He crunched into the metal rails, fell back, but was immediately on his feet snarling, barking and snapping his jaws ferociously.

That was when Annie saw the bright yellow 'Beware of the dog' sign on the gate. She had no idea how she'd missed it the first time.

But they were now in the road and the hound from h.e.l.l was on the other side of the gate. Shaken, but strangely light-hearted now that the rat and dog horror was over, they shouldered their rolls and began to walk away from the scene of the crime.

'Now that,' Annie told Elena, 'is what I call a shopping adventure.

Chapter Fifteen.

Annie recovering: Floral dressing gown (Elena's)

Hair conditioning masque (Paul Mitch.e.l.l via Elena)