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

5. Laurel Thinks about Jackie and Mamie, and the New Frontier Comes to an End

If Laurel felt as if she was "slipping and sliding" back to her original stance of the helpless victim, she used a sort of mantra she developed while looking at pictures of Mamie Eisenhower. Mamie represented everything she hated. First of all, she was a Republican. Worst, though, was her appearance, her clothes, hairstyle (if you could call it that) and general affect. Ick. Laurel tried to figure out Mamie's age while having the position of First Lady from 1952 -1960. She looked like an old lady to Laurel but she was actually middle-aged.

Then Laurel would look through her collection of photos of Jackie Kennedy. A straight, smooth hair style, no crimping, no artificial-looking fluffs; her shapely dark eyebrows; designer clothes, all modest in style but absolutely perfect for whatever occasion they were called for. And suddenly Jackie's hats in the pillbox style which fitted onto the back of her head--all women went mad. How Jackie kept hers on without any visible means, Laurel couldn't figure out but concluded that this is what it meant to be Jackie.

Stuart quickly lost his hold on Laurel. He tried a few more times to insult her (Laurel lard ass) but the remark didn't hit its mark and flew out like one of the Pirates hitting a home run, over the wall, as Rosey Roswell used to say, right into Aunt Minnie's garden. And Laurel had not gained or lost weight. Her friends told her that they were proud of her for "handling" Stuart. Laurel got so carried away that she began a flirtacious campaign to get Michael Lewis who sat on the bus with her ask her out on a date. She didn't particularly like Michael but she decided to practice her flirting skills on him, just for fun. Laurel was sure Jackie had done the same thing when she was 14. Michael Lewis' brown eyes watched Laurel's red/gold mane of hair shining in the early morning sun (Laurel knew exactly where to sit to make the effect of the sun on her hair stronger). She chattered vivaciously to him and told him she had a dream about him the night before (this usually worked) but Michael was probably struck dumb by all of Laurel's charming ways and nothing happened. Laurel cheerfully gave up the campaign and let the poor boy alone.

For a year Laurel felt close to Jackie; Laurel was Jewish and didn't believe in saints but if she did believe in them Jackie would be her personal minor deity, ever leading the way upward to the attainment of mature feminine charm. Then the New Frontier came to a sudden, bloody end.