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Rachel Lennox was tired. She felt it in her buzzing head and her aching feet as she left the soundstage and crossed lot 5 toward her trailer. It had been a long day, twelve hours on set with barely time to snatch lunch in the middle of seemingly endless takes. To add insult to injury, all day they had been running a rather maudlin scene that Rachel did not particularly like, and it had left her feeling cross.
She reached down and pulled off her high-heeled pumps and stockings, feeling the asphalt under her feet with a rush of relief tinged with guilt. The director would have her hide if they saw her roughing up her feet -- they had a barefoot scene to be filmed at a lake on location during the following week -- but for once Rachel dismissed her conscientious attendance to the rules of the set. As Jerry, the best boy grip, went jogging by, she raised her pumps in a greeting and continued on toward her trailer.
When she reached the trailer, she paused for a moment to turn her eyes toward the Hollywood hills in the distance. The trees were tinged orange by the setting sun and the sky was a delicate shade of pink. Usually a few minutes watching the sunset could put Rachel into a better mood even after the longest of days, but today she drew in a breath, let it out slowly, and turned back to her trailer. She climbed the three steps and turned the doorknob.
“Rachel!” A whirling dervish launched itself from the settee and bowled toward Rachel before she had finished entering the trailer. As she gasped and dropped her pumps, the dervish flung itself at Rachel and wrapped a pair of strong arms around her. “I missed you! I missed you! I missed you!”
“Hilary! What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be in England!”
“No, I’m not,” the dervish said, and, detaching herself from Rachel, revealed herself to be a lithe, pretty young women with a mass of curly blonde hair and bright green eyes. She wore a very short mini dress with a smartly tied scarf around her neck. On the settee behind her, Rachel saw a small suitcase.
“I came straight from the airport,” Hilary said, following Rachel’s gaze. “I wanted to see you so much, I simply couldn’t wait.”
“It’s lovely to see you,” Rachel said, sinking onto a chair. Her forehead creased a little. “But really, is everything all right? Do you have bad news or something?”
“Silly Rachel.” Hilary perched atop a table and swung her legs back and forth. “Everything is splendid. Do you think I’d be bouncing all around here if I had bad news? I expect,” she said with customary candor, “if there were bad news, Uncle Tom would telephone you. No one would send me on an airplane just to give you bad news.”
“Then why -- ”
“I had a few days’ holiday and fancied a visit. Can’t a girl visit her sister if she wants to? I mean, even if we are adopted sisters. You’re the most sister I’ve ever had and I missed you and I wanted to see you.”
At long last, Rachel’s brow unfurrowed and she smiled. “Of course we’re sisters,” she said. “And I’m very glad to see you.”
“Well, then that’s sorted,” Hilary said, and began to roam about the trailer, picking things up off tables and shelves and putting them back down. “It seems an age since I visited you out here. What was it, 1965?”
“I think so. About two years.” Rachel had reached up and was removing pins from her hair, letting the knot on top of her head loosen and tumble down to join the hair-sprayed tendrils of hair framing her face.
“I must say, hair and makeup here do awfully good work,” Hilary said, eyeing Rachel with approval. “Of course, you were always much more elegant than pretty, but I’ve never seen you looking so beautiful.”
Rachel blushed. “It’s odd you should say that. My agent, Mr. Kleinfield, you know, wants to market me for what he calls glamour roles. He says now that I’m in my twenties, I ought to expand my repertoire. Less ingénue, more of what he calls glitz. But I don’t really think I’m the glamorous type.”
“No, you’re quite right. I think trying to look -- what’s his word? Glitz? -- Well, I think glitz would do the same thing the Wintle’s Wonders uniform did to you.”
Rachel shuddered. “Don’t let’s talk about those.” But a thought had struck her. “What sort of thing are you dressing the Wonders in these days, anyway? Have you revamped the uniforms the way you planned?”
“I have them all in green and yellow now with a sort of pleated skirt and plaid Alice bands,” Hilary said. Then, seeing the look of horror on Rachel’s face, she added, “Now don’t look at me like that! I just said the uniforms never did anything for you, didn’t I? But they look very smart on the Wonders, and that’s what matters, isn’t it?”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Rachel agreed reluctantly. “What does Aunt Cora think of them?”
“She loves them. You know, I think it was the uniforms that made her decide to keep me on as her assistant manager. She’s always saying how awfully she misses Pursey now that Pursey lives here in Hollywood with you, but I think I fill Pursey’s shoes quite well. What Aunt Cora needs is a sort of jack-of-all-trades, and that’s what I am. Of course, she’s never been easy to get on with, but the fact is she’s going to want to retire someday and she wants the company left in the family. I’m not family, but I’m the closest she’s going to get.”
“And you like it? You really want to manage Mrs. Wintle’s Wonders for your job?”
“Well, I didn’t like it one bit while Dulcie was around, but since she got married and went to live in Ipswich, things are all right.”
“It’s hard to think of Dulcie living in Ipswich.”
“Because there aren’t as many people to pay attention to her there as in London?” Hilary asked, once again with her disarming candor. “It’s very odd, but I think she gets all the attention she wants from her Sam Watts. Honestly, Rachel, he dotes on her. He gives her anything she wants. She’s going to sit in his house and do nothing and get fat and have babies for the rest of her life, you mark my words.”
“Well, that’s not so bad,” Rachel protested. “I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“Maybe it was, once, but now I think I want to manage the Wonders with Aunt Cora.”
“Do you think she would keep you on even if Pursey came back to England?” Rachel asked, and her brow furrowed again.
Hilary considered this. “Yes, I think so. I do a lot that Pursey never did, you know. I can fill in for the dance teachers if they’re absent and I can negotiate contracts and things like that, as well as doing the things Pursey did, like see to the kitchen staff and iron the uniforms and stuff. I’m not very worried about being replaced by anyone. But why do you ask?”
“Well, there’s a chance Pursey and I might be moving back to England.”
“Rachel!” She whirled again off the settee and flung herself at her sister. “That would be lovely! But why are you so glum about it? Are you being sacked here or something?”
“Not exactly. But you see, my contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer is up after this film, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen about it. Honestly, Hilary, it’s not a good time for films right now. MGM and Paramount are doing rather badly. Warner is all right, of course, but Mr. Kleinfield doesn’t seem to think I have much of a chance getting anything with them.” Rachel chewed her bottom lip. “It does seem like it might be best for me to come back to England.”
Hilary was indignant. “And do what? Sit in Aunt Cora’s house all day?”
“I expect I could get work with the BBC or doing commercials or something.”
“Have you had any offers?” Hilary demanded.
“One,” Rachel said, but she avoided Hilary’s eyes.
“What is it?”
“It’s…it’s one of those glitzy roles Mr. Kleinfield was talking about. It’s to be a Bond girl. You know, the ladies in the James Bond films.”
Hilary burst into laughter. “You? A Bond girl? It would be worse than when you were a Wonder!”
Rachel sighed. “Yes, I know, but it’s the only offer I’ve got right now.”
“Why do they want you? Aren’t there lots of girls out there much more glamorous who want to be a Bond girl?”
“I suppose so, but the thing is, apparently the people at EON Productions think I might lend the film a dignified tone. They’ve got a new actor to play Bond and they’re making the film rather a tragedy. Apparently he’s going to get married and his wife is going to die. So they’re looking for more solemn girls to play the supporting roles.”
“But why can’t you play his wife? You would play an awfully good wife. Even if she does die.”
“I’m not old enough for that part. And besides, you know it doesn’t work that way.”
Hilary shrugged. “If I were a director, I would hire you to play any part.”
“You just said I would be awful as a Bond girl.”
“Well, I take it back. If the director wants a dignified Bond girl, then he ought to sign you.”
“Maybe he will, and maybe I’ll be the first solemn Bond girl in history.” Rachel laughed despite herself. “And if he doesn’t, I think I’ll take my chances with the BBC.”
“But Rachel -- ” Hilary’s voice was tentative. “You like it here, don’t you? Why would you come back to England?”
Rachel rose to her feet and looked out the window, where the last of the sunset was fading in the sky. “I love it here. But I like England, too. And if I sign with EON or the BBC, we can see each other a lot more than at present. Two years is a long time, Hilary.”
Hilary joined Rachel at the window and put her arm around her sister. “If you play a Bond girl, I’ll be the first one cheering you on. But if you stay in Hollywood, I’ll come and visit you more often. I promise.”
Rachel leaned her head against Hilary’s, dark hair resting on vibrant golden curls. Outside, the sky was turning a deep, velvety blue. For a long time, no one said anything. Then Rachel drew the curtains across the window. “Come on, Hilary. Let’s go home to Pursey.”