The Subway Girls by Susie Orman Schnall

Author:Susie Orman Schnall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

CHAPTER 15

CHARLOTTE

MONDAY, MARCH 21, 1949

Charlotte flew down the stairs. The telephone had rung several times, and she wanted to answer it before the caller gave up, since she was anticipating a response from one final agency. She would most likely hear via letter, but, Charlotte thought, it wouldn’t be completely out of the ordinary if they decided to phone her instead.

The plan was that if it was another no, she’d put on her most comfortable shoes and her most confident expression and walk up one side of Madison Avenue and down the other until she found a suitable placement. At this point, even unsuitable would do. She’d actually considered canvassing the engagement notices to see if any of the girls were in advertising, their impending nuptials most likely indicating their present employer would soon need to fill a seat.

“Is this Charlotte Friedman?” a familiar voice asked. Charlotte sensed a bit of urgency in the voice, like a drop of grapefruit juice in a morning glass of OJ.

“It is.”

“This is Diana Fontaine from the John Robert Powers Modeling Agency. Rose Grant, our first selection for July’s Miss Subways, is unable to fulfill her responsibilities. Since you were Mr. Powers’s next choice, would you be able to come to our offices right now to do the photo shoot?”

“Right now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

“What happened to Rose?”

“I’m not at liberty to say.”

“Does that mean—”

“It means you, dear, are officially Miss Subways for July. Are you able to come?”

“It’ll take me about an hour on the train, but I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Charlotte hung up the phone and froze. So many questions ran through her mind. What on this great green earth had happened to Rose? Unable to fulfill her responsibilities? What could that even mean? But Charlotte knew she had no time for fruitless reverie.

Thankfully, she was fully dressed, as she was planning on going to Manhattan anyway for a class. She’d call Professor Finley’s secretary later to claim illness, though Professor Finley was well known for not excusing any absence unless it was due to the student’s own untimely death.

Once she was on the train, and had offered a prayer of thanks to the Miss Subways goddesses via Thelma Porter’s poster overhead, Charlotte was able to think about what this could mean. A second chance at her plan had to be some sort of sign, right?

She couldn’t wait to tell JoJo. Sam was a different story. After their proposal fiasco on Friday night, Charlotte had woken up late the next morning. The sour taste in her mouth no match for the dull thud in her head and the sharp ache in her heart. Memories of the night before had come rushing back, and Charlotte tried to parse out her confused and conflicted feelings for Sam and Rose. Was her anger justified? Or was she overreacting to something that was just a joke? A lame joke, perhaps. But a joke, nonetheless.

The more Charlotte scrutinized the previous night, the clearer the lens through which she viewed everyone’s actions.

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