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I decided to walk to meet Marcia at the restaurant she’d chosen rather than ride the subway to the next station I’d only walked a couple of blocks when I noticed an elderly lady who see on my way That was one of the city survival lessons Marcia had taught me when I first moved to New York I reached the restaurant and stepped inside to find Marcia already waiting in the foyer "You’re right on ti "They said our table should be ready in a moment"

I opened my mouth to respond, but then a voice atrude today?"

I turned to see the lady who’d been following h she was astonished that I hadn’t recognized her I ht have ure out why I

"I know you were angry with me," she said, "but that’s no reason to snub me entirely"

Only then did I notice her facial structure and put it together with her voice to recognize Ethelinda So, that’s what the rest of the world saw Without her wings, tiara, and layers of out-of-date evening wear, she looked like an entirely different person It would have been nice if I could have ignored her, but I was afraid Ethelinda would ht away," I said, frantically scraet rid of her

"Who’s your friend?" Marcia asked

"Oh, this is Ethel--" I cut myself off because Ethel was a perfectly reasonable, if a little old-fashioned, name, unlike Ethelinda "She, uh, we…"

"I’ an arm around my shoulders

Seventeen

I froze This wasn’t how I’d planned to tell ic Then I tried to recover "Ha, ha! Yeah, that’s e call her at work She’s like a fairy godreat advice on dating, relationships, and stuff like that"

Marcia didn’t act like she’d noticed anything odd, which made me relax a little "It’s nice to ood job, frooodproudly, as though she had anything at all to do with it "Now, if only we can s work out for those two"