Cry For the Child If The Tears Will Come/A Christmas Carol/C. Dickens

4. Laurel Aligns Herself With Jackie Kennedy

Laurel would remember always that morning, the day she got out of bed and knew what her path would be; her path to salvation would be so gloriously simple. All she had to do to conquer Stuart would be to ask herself: "What would Jackie do?"

The beauty, the simplicity of it made tears come to her eyes. Jackie was able to charm almost the whole world, it seemed; Laurel had seen pictures of Jackie participating in elegant conversations with heads of state and their wives; Jackie re-decorated parts of the White House too. Laurel saw the special on television, where Jackie invited all of the United States to visit the White House via television. Her posture and speech were superb but a little stiff; Laurel could not blame her for that. She was, after all, the Queen. Jackie went from room to room, telling interesting stories and pointing out how the earliest, most sacred objects and rooms had been preserved but through her excellent taste were made modern.

All Laurel had to do was walk down the halls of the school with her friends, her head held up and back and her shoulders relaxed but somehow held in a sophisticated stance. When Stuart approached between classes she looked ahead and at a focal point above the crowded hallway and thought of Jackie talking to important people from France or Italy, supervising the menus, and dressing herself in the sleek style that she brought to the White House. Everybody had forgotten about Mamie Eisenhower and her ruffles, bows, and crimped hair. So that when Stuart passed and called out "Hey, pregnant cheeks" and his admirers laughed, Laurel was lost in the New Frontier with Jackie.