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“Hi, Holly!” Trying for chirpy.
Holly steals a chair from in front of the adjoining room and sits down beside her. “What’s wrong?”
Corrie tries to widen her smile and succeeds in turning it into a grimace. “Nothing. Really.”
“It doesn’t look like nothing.”
“But it is.” Corrie scrubs a palm up her cheek in a furtive tears-begone gesture that Holly knows well. She was once Corrie’s age, and not very well prepared for the world. The dirty truth is that she wasn’t prepared at all. “It’s just that Kate ripped me a new one once we were alone. Wasn’t the first time, won’t be the last. She can be generous, and she can be harsh.”
“What was it?”
“About having to sit in the lobby. Because I forgot to call ahead and arrange early check-in. I forgot to do it because the rooms were in your name. There were people outside waving autograph books. She hates being gawked at.”
Also hates not getting the Class A glide, Holly thinks.Hates being treated like the rest of the peons.
Holly says, “I should have done it.”
Corrie shakes her head. “You have your job, I have mine. It’s just… there’s so much to keep track of.”
Holly is surprised by how angry this behavior makes her, even though she can admire Kate for her courage and plain speaking. Part of it is because she’s been treated as Corrie was this morning—John would say she canidentify—but it’s also simple unfairness. This young woman had bleach thrown in her face, and except for her own quick wits, could have inhaled anthrax dust. All Kate has suffered is having blood and guts dumped over her luggage; she didn’t even have to replace the clothesinthe luggage. Corrie has stuck with her through everything, all to get a scolding for not arranging early check-in at the hotel.
She says, “That’s unfair.”
Corrie glances at her, and something in Holly’s expression clearly alarms her. “Don’t say anything to her! Don’t you dare get me in trouble! I understand how stressful things are for Kate. I really do.”
What Corriedoesn’tunderstand is that Holly would be incapable of going face to face and toe-to-toe with Kate McKay about this, anyway. Incapable of saying,You treated your personal assistant badly and that is not acceptable.
Holly has faced a loaded gun; on at least two occasions she has faced creatures for which there is no scientific explanation. It’s not courage she lacks, it’s the fundamental self-worth necessary to call someone out on their hurtful behavior. She may never be a person who can do that. It’s a deeper character flaw than not wanting to be seen in a swimsuit, and she doesn’t know how to fix it.
Never mind, she tells herself.After all, I’m just another employee. And immediately dislikes herself for thinking that way.
“I won’t say anything, Corrie. But it’s poopy behavior.” And, sadly, the best she can muster: “Very disappointing.”
Corrie puts a hand on Holly’s wrist. “You have to think of the pressure she’s under.Beenunder for years, starting with quitting the Pittsburgh City Council over that vote to get books about the so-called homosexual agenda out of the elementary school libraries—”
“I know about that,” Holly says. “I’ve read her books, Corrie.”
“But it was the Supreme Court decision—Dobbs—that turned most of her focus to the abortion thing. When they kicked it back to the states.” Corrie is looking at Holly earnestly. “It’s become a state-by-state crusade for her. Mobilizing the vote. Calling out men in power who have barely masked religious agendas. Is she a little insane on the subject? Sure. Maybe all super-dedicated people are. And how they hate her. Headlines like THE BITCH IS BACK inBreitbart, with a little asterisk replacing theI, so the Karens who read it won’t be offended.”
Holly hates thatKarenpejorative, thinks it’s not much different thankikeordago, a label that says don’t think, just hate. She doesn’t say so. Corrie is on a roll, so let her roll.
“Social media is even worse. Memes of Kate’s face crossfading into a watermelon being blown apart by a .410 shotgun. Kate giving the Nazi salute. She’s been accused of enticing underage girls to Epstein’s Island. Of taking sheep-gland shots in her vagina to keep looking young. People who used to shoot at targets with Osama bin Laden’s face on them now shoot at ones with Kate’s face. Every night when she goes out, she knows her enemies will be there, booing and cursing. But she faces them. Faces them and stops them cold with humor and bravery.”
“I know. I saw.”
“It’s not just this stalker. That guy with the baseball bat would have put her in the hospital or actuallykilledher, if you hadn’t kicked that chair in his way and tripped him.”
Holly knows this, and she knows something else, as well: Kate just stood there. Her face in the newspaper photograph says it all:This cannot happen to me. I’m too special.
“It’s no wonder she blows off steam once in awhile. That’s all I’m saying.”
Holly makes no reply.
Corrie says, “You don’t like her, do you?”
Holly thinks about how to answer. Finally she says, “I respect her.” This much is true, but she still thinks that Corrie deserved better.
Deserves.