A Damsel in Distress

The secret heart in every little girl yearns, someday, to be a princess.

When Becki Moore of Soirée phoned me in August my instant response was, “How did you get this number?”

I softened when she mentioned my very, very old very, very dear friend, Frances Buchanan. “We want to do a cover profile on you,” Becki said. “We’ve heard a lot of wonderful things about you since you moved here and we want an exclusive.”

“Me? You want ME? On the cover of Soirée?” May I confess: of all the fabulous moments in my life, this one rekindled the little girl in me! My recently adopted city was taking me in its arms!

An interview luncheon was arranged at the Country Club of Little Rock with Becki and her photographer extraordinaire Jason Masters. As she asked questions, he studied my planes.

Jason’s piercing eyes caressed my face. “I see her like a tiny dancer. A ballerina. All shimmering grace and fantasy romance. Every girl’s dream . . . every man’s desire.”

How COULD he have known! It was as if Jason saw into my soul! Since I’m ten I’ve wanted to be a prima ballerina assoluta! My moment, magically, had arrived!

Everything was set. We would shoot under theatrical lighting on the Robinson Auditorium stage with one or two soft-focus ballerinas behind me.

The minute I got home I phoned Jamileh Kamran who, seriously, is right up there with Carolina Herrera, to design and construct my tutu for the shoot.

If there’s one thing I know, it’s how to play to a camera. Jason couldn’t have been more thrilled that afternoon. When we finished, he hugged me and whispered, “This is going to be one of the best covers we’ve ever done.”

He was right. The proofs he sent me for approval were fabulous.

Elated, I notified all my friends locally and around the world about my resurgent celebrity status in, of all places, Little Rock!

Toward the end of September, Soirée sent me a dummy proof of the cover (see below). Somehow I felt an uneasy potential for things to unravel.

Then, mid-October, I received a warm note from Becki that Soirée had “decided to go another direction for the December issue.”

Within days (Little Rock’s social grapevine is positively viral) I was told it was because of my new blog on the Arkansas Times.

Quelle horreur!

I checked into my usual room at Bridgeway where, thanks to the healing touch of my assigned therapist, buff Ben, and some miracle pharmaceuticals, I soon emerged renewed and more resilient than ever.

Totally OVER the heartbreak of Soiréeisis . . . yet still stuck with the tutu. (Where in God’s name does one donate a designer tutu?)

But enough about me.

What do YOU think of my canceled cover?