Watching the End of the World – 9
���The beautiful senorita beside me is Jordynn,��� he said, his voice very silky and smooth, holding out his hand to the African American woman on his left. He stared at her, his hand held out to her, until she took his hand, then he looked back at the rest of them. ���She is from Miami, where they have the most beautiful women in the world.��� She brought her other hand to her face. ���She grew up wanting to be a princess and that is what she became.��� Her hand tightened on his and her mouth opened slightly. Her eyes were glowing. ���She has no hobbies because princesses do not need them. Her secret is that one day all men will fall at her feet and worship her beauty.��� Now she was blushing. Nate felt like gagging but he had to admit he was impressed with the man���s delivery. He was definitely slick.
���This silver-tongued fool is Santiago,��� Jordynn said, pulling her hand away from his with reluctance. She was wearing a red tube top and she twitched it up slightly. One hand went to her hair. There were streaks of red in it and it fell down past her shoulders. She really was a very striking woman, Nate thought.
���He was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, to a virgin on Christmas Eve.��� There were several groans at this. ���When he was born the doctor held him up and said, ���This man will strike fear in the hearts of men and lust in the hearts of women everywhere.������ She looked at Santiago. ���God���s gift, aren���t you?���
He winked and inclined his head. ���It is my curse,��� he said softly.
���Chihuahua was too small for him so when he was twelve he left his family and immigrated to the United States. The whole city went into mourning when he left.��� She looked up from the clipboard. ���Sickening, isn���t it?��� There was a chorus of agreement and she continued, ���His hobby is helping little old ladies across the street. He says he has no secrets, that his life is an open book, but that when he was a boy an old bruja, a witch, told him a giant snake would devour him when the world ended.���
These people were better than he thought, Nate realized. They���d anticipated questions like this and they���d put some time into it. They knew this was all bullshit and they embraced it. Maybe this wasn���t so different from real acting after all. Both of them were based on the audience willingly suspending disbelief and temporarily accepting whatever premise the actor put forth. He looked around him, wondering what, if anything, he heard today would be the truth.
Then it was Jenna���s turn. ���This is Maha. His name means wild cow in Thai. His mother is Thai and his father is an American. They met in Bangkok. He was born in Santa Barbara, California, but his parents split up when he was ten and he spent the rest of his childhood in Bangkok. He came to the US to go to college at Ohio State and when he was done he moved to LA. He���s a Buddhist, an actual Zen Buddhist. His hobby is meditating.��� Caleb faked an exaggerated yawn and Jenna gave him a cold look. ���His secret is that he has a lot of bad karma from his last life, when he was a gangster in Thailand.���
No way, Nate thought. That stuff had to be made up. But then he looked closer at Maha and wondered. It sure looked as though Maha believed it.
Maha spoke next. His voice was very even, very calm. He did not rush his words, but seemed to take his time choosing each one. ���Jenna���s grandmother emigrated from Russia. No, that is not the right word. She escaped from Russia in the 1960s. Her husband refused to come with her, so she took her baby daughter and did it alone. Somehow she made it into Finland and then to the US. She is still alive. Jenna says she is too tough to die. Jenna grew up in Chicago and her mother and grandmother still live there. Her hobby is exercise and taking care of herself. Her secret is that she is going to win this contest.���
There was a lot of hooting at his last words, but Nate didn���t join in. Jenna struck him as very capable, the kind of person who, once she put her mind to something, didn���t give up until she���d done it.
excerpt from��Watching the End of the World
