Goldengirl

He opened his briefcase. Before landing at Kennedy Airport, there was work to do. The past ten days had seemed like 1969 again, when he had started the agency in London with the help of one part-time temp, and lived on sandwiches and four hours’ sleep, spending the other twenty generating business. These days, he was used to farming out the work to those sub-executives on the next floor, not seeing it through himself, every stage from the pitch to the signing. Still, he had kept control of the thing; if there were leaks, they wouldn’t be traced to Dryden Merchandising.

All told, he had done pretty well on the West Coast. The old sales patter hadn’t deserted him. On a quick count, he had logged upward of two million in endorsements, all provisional, of course, and peppered with escape clauses, but it wasn’t bad at all. If he could do as well in New York this week, the project would be right on target.

Already, the agreements had chiseled some shape into the Goldengirl image. She was hooked on California oranges, eggs and soft drinks. She drove a four-seater sports coupe with a V-12 engine, wore cashmere sweaters and white pantyhose and welcomed visitors to the U.S.A. Her hair was shampooed nightly with Goldtress, she showered under a Softspray de luxe and always took a malt drink last thing. Her preference in tracksuits was still under discussion, but shaping promisingly; enough gear had arrived gratis from the major sports manufacturers to outfit the entire agency staff if they ever fielded a track team.

The pleasing thing about the negotiations was that top management had heard of Goldine. That extra day in Eugene had repaid handsomely in publicity. Executives might not believe she was capable of three gold medals, but they knew enough to talk about her, and that was a foot in the door. The take-up had been better than 60 per cent, with less than 15 per cent outright refusals. Moreover, nobody had wanted to know who was behind the project. To a man, they swallowed the line that Goldine was Superjogger, the girl who found by accident she was America’s fastest sprinter.

The ingénue image had gone over strongly, as the Sportscene story testified. It fulfilled all requirements at this stage, providing good copy for the press and prime material for the admen to work on. No question of it: Goldine had done everything right in the interviews after Eugene. There was no hint anywhere of the self-indulgent stirrings she had admitted to him afterward. Just as well: the media would have a field day if they heard she was developing a power thing.

He took out a cigarette. No future in worrying what she might say. She had the intelligence to preserve the image, whatever her private statements revealed. In a way, that conversation in the hostel had been a demonstration of the point she was making. She had shown she had power over him. She could destroy his work with a few words in a press conference. He had to believe she wouldn’t, that it was enough to know she had the power. For, like her more explicit threats, it was self-defeating. To execute it, she would have to destroy Goldengirl, and if she did that, she removed herself from her position of influence.

He started sifting through his papers.

It wasn’t pure chance that he bought an evening paper before he left the Pan Am terminal at Kennedy Airport. He wanted to see how his golfers were doing in the Philadelphia Classic. It was a long time before he found out. His eyes were riveted by something else:

TRACKSTAR VANISHES: KIDNAP THEORY

NEW YORK, Aug. 1. — Goldine Serafin, 19, blond star of the recent U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, was today reported missing by her father, Dr. William Serafin. Early Wednesday morning she left Cleveland Hopkins Airport, Ohio, to travel by air taxi to New York, where the U.S. Olympic team had been asked to report for a pre-Games medical check. She did not arrive. This came to light yesterday afternoon, when Dr. Serafin contacted Murray Randal, of the U.S. Olympic Committee. Police are now investigating Goldine’s disappearance. A spokesman confirmed they were working on the theory she was kidnaped.