A day of purpose for Mishka

“Hi Dad!” Gillian greeted when she entered the TV room. She gave her father a quick peck on the cheek.

“So, how was your night out with Mishka?” Mason asked, looking at his daughter as if he expected to see something different about her.

“Well, first we went past that mansion. You know, the fashion designer’s white mansion?” Gillian began.

“Oh, you didn’t say it was white,” Joan remarked, frowning at her daughter.

“Well, during the day it’s sort of beige, but with all those lights on at night it looks white. Like the white House in Washington DC,” Gillian continued. “It’s really spectacular at night. You have to see it, really,” she added, her eyes big with awe.

“So then, he must really be doing well then. He seems to be settled here as well if that’s the kind of house that he got himself,” Mason remarked, raising an eyebrow as he looked at Joan.

“Oh, maybe it’s just his style. He’s a designer, so his taste in other things will also be distinctive,” Joan remarked, pulling down the corners of her mouth as if she was indifferent to Bruce’s wealth.

“Expensive taste, compared to us,” Mason remarked, also with an unhappy grin on his face.

“But, I think that we should admire Bruce for his hard work and not be envious of him,” Gillian remarked, looking at her parents, one at a time.

“Well, he’s also very talented. Like Mishka who can still make it without her family’s money,” Mason remarked, looking up at Gillian who was standing near the doorway.

“Well, Mishka’s money made it easier for her to get noticed in the music scene,” Gillian remarked.

“And Bruce might also have a sound financial background from his family, otherwise it would have taken him very long to become that successful,” Mason remarked as he turned his attention back to the TV show that he was watching.

“Let me get what’s left of my food before I tell you about the rest of our evening. I’m starving,” Gillian remarked before rushing out of the TV room.

***

Mishka woke up feeling drained. She stretched a few times and rolled over onto her other side. Then it hit her. The same thing which had happened on the previous day could happen again.

“Oh, no! I can’t take today off again. I’m not sick and I have to carry on with that training before Dad gets onto my case,” she said to herself before turning around and sitting up.

“Something else is wrong about today,” she told herself as she tried to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes.

“Oh, yes. Grandma didn’t see me at all yesterday, but that’s a good thing,” she thought.

She got out of bed and walked to the window to open the curtains.

“Oh, yes!” she thought. “Grandma is up to something wrong even as we’re trying to get her to go back to her own house. She’s up to funny business in the nursery,” Mishka told herself.

She then walked away from the windows to get her work clothes out of the wardrobe.

“Before I see her at breakfast I have to go and take a look at the nursery. There must be some tell-tale sign there,” Mishka told herself as she went to the shower.

“But what if Milla cleared up everything last night? I should have gone down with her to have a look. Why was I so lazy?” Mishka asked herself.

“I guess I was too tired from the double dance workouts. First here, then at the club.

Then I had a nightcap to make me sleep. So, I guess I’ll have to ask Milla if she saw anything suspicious down there when she cleaned up after Grandma. Hopefully she was not too tired to notice something unusual,” Mishka said to herself as she allowed the water to flow over her body and invigorate her senses.

She stepped out of the shower completely awake.

“I have to ring the bell for Milla again today so I can ask her what she found down there,” Mishka told herself as she dressed hastily.

She rang the bell as she started applying her makeup.

There was a gentle knock on the door just as Mishka began to comb her hair.

“Come in!” she called without thinking.

Gwen, the assistant cook stepped into the bedroom.

“Good morning Mishka,” she greeted with a friendly smile.

“Oh, good morning Gwen,” Mishka responded in surprise. “Where’s Milla?” she asked, staring at Gwen’s reflection in the mirror while she continued to comb her hair.

“Oh, your grandmother asked her to cut some flowers for her in the garden,” Gwen replied.

“So early in the morning?” Mishka asked in surprise.

“Yes, can I get something for you?” Gwen asked tipping her head to the side.

“Well, I actually wanted to ask Milla something, but I’ll go and find her, don’t worry,” Mishka replied.

“No coffee?” Gwen asked.

“No, thanks. I will get some downstairs at breakfast,” Mishka replied.

Gwen then left the room and closed the door behind herself without any more words.

“Okay, so Grandma got Milla to do a task for her so that Milla wouldn’t serve me in my bedroom again today,” Mishka told herself as she looked into the mirror.

“Fancy that! I won’t pull the same stunt two days in a row. I’m definitely going to work today and at lunchtime I’m having my all important meeting with Gillian,” she continued as she shook her hair out to give it a slightly tousled look.

“Now, I’m going to check out the nursery for myself to see if I sense something there, since Milla can’t talk to me now,” Mishka said to her image in the mirror before taking her handbag from a shelf and walking out of her bedroom with determined steps.

As she reached the staircase she heard Myrtle’s voice, so she hastened her steps and walked down the stairs before Myrtle could start calling her.

“If she does call I’ll just pretend that I can’t hear her as I’m going all the way down to the basement anyway,” Mishka told herself.