Manhattan Miracle (10 page)

"
Thanks." I picked up the phone and scanned for missed calls. "The call was from Lew."

Both girls grew excited. Ginger said,
"Really, call him back."

Amber started to rise.
"Yes, call him back, but not 'til I leave. I don't want to hear the conversation."

I grabbed her elbow and pulled her back down into her seat.
"Don't be silly. He probably called about you."

"
I know. That's why I want to leave."

Amber
tried to stand again, but Ginger helped me keep her in place. "Baby, Brad's right. You're being silly. If Lew called about you, you need to hear it."

"
It looks like I have no choice."

"
You don't." I punched in Lew's number and he answered before I even heard a ring. "Brad? Thank God! I just called and left you a message."

Both girls
, hearing only my side of the conversation, were obviously listening intently for clues of what Lew said. "I know. What do you need?"

"
I need some advice."

I played dumb.
"About what?"

"
Amber."

I decided to confirm their suspicions.
"Amber? Fabulous looking girl. Seems like you two hit it off pretty good."

"
I know, she's my dream girl come to life. I felt like I'd hit the lottery when she said it was up to me if I wanted to be her boyfriend and then she tells me she's a paid escort. Oh, sure she's a part-time model and actress, but she made it clear to me her main income comes from entertaining men, translation, she's a beautiful, high priced whore."

"
Sounds like you made up your mind."

"
No, I don't know what to do. I can't sleep. I had maybe ten minutes sleep last night. I just know despite what she is, I want to be with her."

"
Well, you have two choices then. You could get her to quit her job and become her boyfriend or…you could quit your job and become her pimp—though I don't know how good you'd look in a purple velvet suit with a raccoon collar and matching fedora."

"
You're a lot of help."

Amber giggled, but Ginger broke out laughing.

"Is someone there?"

"
Ginger, why?"

"
She's Amber's friend. Let me talk to her."

"
Just a minute." I put my hand over the phone's mic and whispered to Ginger. "He wants to talk to you."

~ * * ~

I took the phone from Brad. "Hello Lewis."

"
Hi beautiful. You're Amber's best friend, right?"

"
Ah-huh."

"
So, I'm sure you know she's a courtesan."

"
Yes, what about it?"

"
Well, she said she'd like me to be her boyfriend if I could accept the fact that she's a courtesan. I really dig her. In fact, I can't get her out of my mind. I also can't get past the idea that she's probably had sex with scores of men."

"
At least."

"
What?"

"
Nothing. So take Amber to bed and make love to her. Then you'll be even with the others. Fact is, you'll be ahead of them, because they were merely buying her time and you'll be romancing her."

"
I never thought of that. Do you think she'd quit being a courtesan?"

"
Don't know. You'll have to ask her. I quit."

"
You? You were a courtesan?"

"
Of course. She's my roommate. We were a team. We were even together that first night you saw us, Brad got me a job and I decided to move on."

"
Wow. Is Brad still there?"

"
Ah-huh. You want talk at him?"

"
Please."

I handed the phone to Brad.
"Your turn."

~ * * ~

"Yeah, Lew?"

"
How'd you get past the fact Ginger's been with so many men?"

Even though I was the one
who had sex with scores of men, vicariously, I put myself in Lew's position. "You can't dwell on it, Bud. It's a done deal. If you don't move past it, it'll flat eat you up. Personally, I think Ginger and Amber are great girls and worth a little leeway. They started escorting to get through college and even when they graduated the recession wouldn't let them get decent jobs, so I don't judge them and neither should you."

"
I think you're right. Thanks."

"
You’re welcome."

"
I don't suppose Amber is around?"

"
Actually, she walked in a couple seconds ago and is probably wondering what we're talking about. Do you want to talk to her?"

"
If I could."

The frown on
Amber's pretty face turned into a subtle smile as I handed my phone to her. "Lew?"

Her
smile widened as Lew spoke. "I miss you too, baby."

"
Are you sure?"

"
Eleven will be fine."

"
See you then. Bye." Amber jammed her fist in the air. "Yipee! I thought he'd never want to see me again and now we're going to meet at the Station."

Ginger and I jumped up and embraced Amber.

"That's wonderful," I said.

"
Yes, I really like Lew," added Ginger

W
ith Amber's arms wrapped loosely around us she started swaying. Then she started humming
Some Enchanted Evening
and soon we danced to Amber's improvised music.

~ * * ~

Wearing a smile, Suzi glanced up at Soriano. "What do you think, boss? It looks like Amber might give up the courtesan life, too, like Ginger. Net gain, two escorts going straight and two budding romances. I'd say switching Brad and Ginger's bodies has worked out quite well."

"
I agree, things appear to be developing nicely and Amber and Lewis being involved together is like a bonus. Nevertheless, I just wish you hadn't resorted to this highly irregular procedure of switching bodies. I need to know what Brad and Ginger really think of their new situation. That's why I went ahead and set the wheels in motion to meet with them.

Chapter T
hirteen

Brad and I got to the office
an hour late, and when we did I found a business card on my desk. I picked it up, looked around to see if anyone was overly interested and read it:

Madame Soriano

Psychic & Fortune Teller Extraordinaire

222 W Canal Street, Suite 100
,

New York
, N. Y.

How curious
. There were no phone numbers or email addresses.
How can a business do business without a phone or a computer?
I threw the card in the waste basket and strode to the ladies room.

When I returned, what looked
to be the same card rested on the seat of my chair. I picked up the card.
Someone must have fished the card out of my waste basket and put it in on my chair.
But why? Who? Once again I glanced around. No one looked suspicious. Then I looked into Brad's office and he stared directly at me.
Could it be Brad?
Naw!

But then I saw he held a card similar to mine. He also looked irritated. He waved for me to come into his office. When I got there he asked,
"Who is Madame Soriano, and why did you put all these cards around my office?"

I was confused.
"I didn't." I held my card up. "Look, I got one, too!"

"
Just one?"

"
Well, I got another and I threw it in the trash."

He set his waste basket on his desk, reached in and pulled
out what had to be a dozen cards. "There's at least twenty in here. They're all over my office." He grasped my hand and led me back to my cubicle. "Let's go see."

When we got to my desk, I saw at least a dozen more cards spread around my desk and cubicle.
"What the…"

Brad
's nostrils flared "Something very strange is happening here!"

"
Stranger than switching bodies!"

Brad cupped his chin and stared off into nothing.
"You think there could be a connection?"

I gulped.
"Maybe, one strange occurrence begets another?"

He frowned.
"Begets? Now we're using Bible terms. What the eff is going on?"

I cocked my head and chuckled.
"I guess we have to go see Madame Soriano to find out."

"
You're right. Let's go." He grabbed my arm.

I pulled my arm away.
"Just like that. Don't you have to tell anyone we're leaving and why?"

"
No, I'm my own boss now and you work for me."

"
Hi Brad, Ms Allen."

We turned. It was Wally.
"You haven't seen Lew have you? He got sick from something he ate at lunch yesterday and went home and now he's not here yet."

Brad nodded.
"No, I didn't see him, but I did talk to him on the phone briefly this morning. He didn't say anything about being sick, but come to think of it he didn't sound like himself."

"
Okay, thanks. How're things going?"

"
Really great. I closed a big deal with a mutual fund manager yesterday."

Wally grinned.
"Wonderful."

Brad grasped my hand again.
"If you'll excuse us there's someplace we have to go."

Wally
's eyes seemed to glaze over. "Oh, to Madame Soriano's?"

I looked at Brad, who looked just as surprised as I was.

Brad shuffled his feet. "What do you know about her?"

Wally
's eyes narrowed. "Who?

"
Madame Soriano. You just said her name."

"
I don't know what you're talking about."

Brad whispered to me,
"Let's get out of this asylum," and turned to Wally, "We'll talk later."

"
Okay."

When the elevator door opened, I was surprised to see
Steven Boyd, the Director of Human Resources, standing there. "Good afternoon Brad." He spoke to Brad, but his eyes covered every inch of me.

"
Hello Steve. Have you met Ginger Allen, my secretary?"

Boyd
directed a smarmy smile my way and held out his hand. "Well, hello, again." Still scoping my figure, he spoke to Brad, "Of course I met the lovely Ms. Allen. I hired her."

"
Of course, I forgot."

"
How are you, Ginger? I do hope Mr. Fairchild is treating you well."

I shook his hand
and forced a smile. "Well, he hasn't given me a raise yet, but other than that he's a great person to work for."

He snickered.
"Actually, I give the raises. Usually, we wait to give raises until after the annual performance evaluation, but…" He winked. I'll see what I can do." Then out of the blue, Steve's eyes, like Wally's, glazed over. In a monotone voice, he continued. "So where are you going? To see Madame Soriano? You know, she needs to talk to you."

Both of us
were taken aback. "You know Madame Soriano?"

The glaze faded and his brow dipped low.
"Who?"

I slid my lips to the side of my face and pursed them.
"Nothing, forget I asked."

The elevator doors opened and we all stepped into the lobby.
Steve said, "Brad, call me so we can go over Ms. Allen's performance."

Brad
patted him on the back as we exited the elevator. "I'll do that."

Steve scampered across the lobby to the Human Resources office, then turned and waved, before entering.

Brad grabbed my attention and my arm. "We seem to be getting communications from this Madame Soriano, whoever she is, through unwitting messengers."

"
I know. This is so weird."

As we walked by the security desk Claude the elderly security guard said,
"Going to see Madame Soriano? She knows all."

Brad nodded and waved. As we exited the building, he flagged down a cab. When it pulled over to the curb we
scooted in and Brad said, "222 West Canal Street."

I almost jumped out of the taxi, when the cabbie said as if he went there all the time,
"Madame Soriano's, huh?"

I should have known better, but I asked,
"You know her?"

He stared at me in the rear view mirror.
"Who?"

Brad waved his hand in a forward motion.
"Just drive on. We're in kind of a hurry."

Ten minutes later we pulled up to a four story office building. Brad paid the driver,
while I approached the building. Suite 100 turned out to be a door sandwiched between a cocktail lounge on one side and an import store on the other. A sign on the door read
MADAME SORIANO EXTRAORDINARE
. I shook my head.

Brad joined me as I reached for the door handle.
"It looks like the extraordinary Madame Soriano operates out of a closet."

Brad shrugged,
"It could be stairs. Open it and let's find out."

I pushed the door open and Brad was right.
There was a flight of stairs. An astonishing flight of curving stairs that seemed to occupy an area the width of which was at least ten times the narrow door we entered. "This is spooky."

He tittered.
"Like everything that's been happening to us this morning isn't."

"
Yes, it's all been spooky, but this is super spooky. I can't even see the end of the stairs. They just go on and on and seem to die in that…" I grabbed his arm tight. "Are those clouds up there?"

"
I can't tell." He grabbed my upper arm. "We aren't going to learn anything standing here gawking." As we alighted on the first stair thread, everything started spinning. When it stopped we stood in a hazy white room. I stared around.

A nice looking woman with short blonde hair sat behind a white desk. She smiled.
"Good Afternoon, Welcome to Madame Soriano Fortune Teller and Psychic Extraordinaire. We've been expecting you."

We stared at each other.
"Are you Madame Soriano?"

She snickered.
"Gosh, no! I'm AFC Suzi Carpenter, Madame Soriano's apprentice."

"
AFC? Is that a title like Apprentice First Class?" I asked.

She smiled.
"Something like that. Madame Soriano and I belong to a large organization."

Brad stepped forward, a determined look on his face.
"Where is Madame and where are we?"

A
middle-aged woman with long, flowing, white hair emerged from somewhere I couldn't determine. Speaking with authority, she said, "I am Madame Soriano. Thank you for coming."

"
You're welcome. Now, why are we here?"

"
I will ask the questions here, if you please."

Frowning
, Brad paused for a moment, then continued, "Just tell us why you summoned us here—you did summon us, didn't you?"

"
That is accurate. It was imperative that my associate and I interview you before the solstice."

I scrunched my nose.
This isn't making any sense
. "Why?"

"
Why don't you make yourselves comfortable while I explain?"

I glanced around, but there was no place to sit until a white leather loveseat mysteriously
appeared behind us. When I turned back, Ms. Carpenter and Madame Soriano were seated on a matching couch and a glass coffee table rested between the set.

"
Please sit. Would you like refreshment? Water, tea, coffee, soda, fruit juice? You may feel like you need something alcoholic, but I'm sorry we don't have access to such items."

"
I'll have an orange juice." As soon as the words left my mouth, a large glass of orange juice materialized on a coaster on the coffee table.

From the pout on Brad
's face, I could tell he was not pleased. "You don't even have wine? What kind of place is this?"

"
Mmm. This orange juice is delicious. Taste this, honey."

I held the glass to his lips and he took a sip.
"Wow, I've never tasted OJ like that before. I'll have a glass of that too." As soon as the words left his mouth, a large glass of orange juice materialized before us. "How'd you do that?"

"
There are limits to what I can tell you, but I will tell you this. Ms Carpenter and I are beings with abilities that are far beyond your understanding."

"
I can see that."

Brad demanded, "
Why did you summon us?"

"
I will get to that. Last week, together you had a life altering experience. Am I correct?"

"
I'll say." I set my glass of orange juice on the table and leaned forward. "Go on."

"
Previous to that, you each expressed an interest in being a member of the opposite sex."

I crossed my legs.
"What do you mean?"

Madame Soriano leaned back, rested her arm on the back of the couch and spoke to me.
"Ginger, the person who became you, dreamed of being a beautiful, glamorous woman like you, so he could be free to be himself, to let his inner-self flourish and show through the fashionable clothing he would wear, not to mention the attention he would garner from the opposite sex." 

I fidgeted.

"Am I wrong?"

"
No, you're right."

She gazed straight at Brad.
"The person who became you had a deep desire to be what her college education trained her for and what she had a gift for—to be, a successful investment banker. To prove she was so much more than beautiful—that she was smart, resourceful and imaginative. Am I wrong?"

Brad sighed.
"No, I did want to be an investment banker."

"
That's why Suzi, my apprentice, being new in this business, took you at your word and without asking my opinion, switched your bodies while you slept."

My jaw dropped.

So did Brad's.

So that is how it happened.
I gazed at Suzi Carpenter, who seemed to prefer looking around the room. "So you're the reason I'm in Ginger's body!"

She turned to me.
"I'm sorry. I thought it was what you wanted. I thought you'd like it."

"
Like it? I don't like it." I rose and smiled. "I love it. Being Ginger thrills me. It completes me." I stepped up to her and hugged her. "Thank you."

Madame Soriano spoke,
"We suspected you liked the change. At least for now you do, and you verified that, however we're not sure about you, Mr. Fairchild? Or should I direct my question to Ms. Allen, the current occupant of Mr. Fairchild's body. What is your feeling about being thrust into Mr. Fairchild's body?"