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“I believe they call it a wedge heel.”
“I want some shoes like that.”
“I hope you get som
e.”
“Thanks!” She skipped to a landing, then stopped abruptly and whirled toward Rosemary again. “Kal says you were at Everest. Did you summit?”
“No. I wasn’t able to because of the avalanche.”
“My mom has been to the summit seven times.”
“I’d heard that. I’d like to talk to your mom about it, actually.”
“How come?”
“Well, I’m a writer as well as a mountain climber. I’d like to write your mother’s story.” It was premature, perhaps, to mention this to Yangchen’s youngest daughter before she’d mentioned it to Yangchen, but Rosemary had already told Nikil and Kal, and at any rate she needed to begin rehearsing her pitch.
“Will she be famous?”
“In some circles, I should think.”
“Will she be on TV?”
“I don’t know. If she’d like to be, that could be arranged, I imagine. I would begin with a magazine article and go from there.”
“Will I get to be in the magazine?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to take a closer look at your qualifications when the time comes.”
“I’m going to summit more times than Mom,” Patricia said. “I’m going to summit more times than anybody. Don’t tell Kal, though. He doesn’t like it when people talk about going to the summit. He hasn’t been. He says he doesn’t want to, but I think it’s just because he isn’t strong enough.”
“I don’t know, he’s quite strong. He didn’t have any trouble getting to the highest camp, where I was. And you have to be strong to do the work he was doing with the ice doctors.”
“I guess.” Patricia began climbing again. “But I still don’t get why he doesn’t want to go all the way to the top. I mean, what’s the point of climbing most of the way to the top of a mountain? The top is, like, right there.”
“You make a good point.”
“I know.” She skipped to the top of the stairs and pulled open the door. “Kal! Your girlfriend is here!”
Rosemary understood immediately after this announcement was made what it meant to have gratitude for the talents of an excellent personal shopper. The woman, Celestine, had been recommended by Allie, who passed on the recommendation from her sister, May, who guaranteed the results. Celestine insisted that since Rosemary planned to attend a family dinner, she required something contemporary and tasteful to wear over her nightclub clothes to tone down the effect. They’d selected a white cotton jacket with a yoke embroidered in flowers, and Rosemary clutched it closed as she counted the number of eyes that had turned to look at her.
Eight…ten…twelve…
Eighteen…twenty…twenty-two.
Eleven people were staring at her.
Thankfully, one of them was Kal. He beckoned her over. “Everybody, this is Rosemary. Rosemary, this is everybody. You met Patricia and Sangmu and Mom. This is Tenzing and Tashi, my brothers, you know my uncle Dorjee already, that’s his wife, Mala, and then there’s Auntie Choden, Auntie Dawa, and New York Auntie Jigme—not to be confused with Milwaukee Auntie Jigme. None of them are actually my aunties, but it’s too complicated to explain how they’re related, so I try not to.” He grinned. “I like the shoes.”
“They’re very comfortable.”
“They’re hot.” He said this under his breath, no longer addressing the entire room. His relatives had resumed their conversations, the introductions completed.
“Not the time or the place,” Rosemary reminded him.
Kal smiled. “How would you know? You just got here. What’s in the bag?”
