Goldengirl

‘Exactly.’ Serafin smiled. He seemed to like the notion. ‘You’re a perceptive thinker, Dryden. We could have used your help in the early stages of our planning. If there had been a little more active help from the consortium in those important discussions, I might have been encouraged to confide in them more readily. Yes, I wish you had been with us for the whole of the last two years.’

Melody seconded that, with a gentle pressure of her left thigh against Dryden’s right.

At four forty-five, when they returned to the Jacaranda, Sternberg was asleep in a peacock chair under a large pink canopy. Valenti was sipping something from a tall cocktail glass. Two empty ones stood on the metal table beside his sun-lounger.

‘She made out okay, then,’ he said. ‘You think I’m clairvoyant? I only have to look at your faces. She do a good time?’

‘Eleven flat in the Quarter-Final,’ said Melody. ‘That was the second fastest of the day.’

‘She judged it beautifully,’ said Dryden. ‘I think she’ll go faster.’

‘She’ll have to,’ said Valenti. ‘Second fastest won’t do tomorrow. Christ, no, she’ll have to step on the gas then.’

‘Second fastest would be sufficient, in fact,’ said Serafin. ‘That would get her a place on the team.’

‘Yeah, but let’s not kid ourselves. This isn’t just about making the team, is it? It’s about shooting for contracts. Dryden has to put her over as America’s number-one Olympic hope. I tell you, I’ll be looking for something faster in the Final tomorrow.’

‘With your support, I’m sure she’ll produce it,’ Cobb told Valenti, adding solicitously, ‘Did you pass a relaxing afternoon?’

Valenti looked up from his lounger. ‘Now, don’t you guys get the idea Gino Valenti ain’t committed. Matter of fact, I went into the TV lounge to watch, but all they showed was some lousy long-distance run. I wasn’t passing a beautiful afternoon like this sitting indoors watching twenty or thirty stumblebums going endlessly in small circles. I got another vodka and vermouth and came out here. And that gave me a great idea. The vodka, not the vermouth. Seems to me there’s a market you haven’t considered, Dryden. Goldengirl wins her medals in Moscow, right? So there’s a Russian connection. Under the U.S.-Soviet Trade Agreement there’s a whole lot of Russian merchandise coming on the market. Vodka, furs, watches. There has to be some percentage in that for us. Why shouldn’t Goldengirl endorse the goods? We could work something out with the Soviets while we’re over there, tell them Goldengirl could move a lot of vodka for them in America. You like it?’

‘If they paid us in rubles, it could help the U.S. balance of payments,’ said Dryden to humour him.

‘Just an idea of mine,’ Valenti murmured in modesty.

‘I got my dips in today,’ said Goldine.

‘You were good,’ said Klugman. ‘You hear that? I mean it. You took them like a champion. Tomorrow will be tougher, because you’ll need to run from the front. Your start looks okay. Keep low, even if the others are upright. Remember Borzov. With luck, you won’t see any others. When you hit the front, don’t turn it on too hard. Hold your speed, don’t force it. Gather for the finish and dip, even if you’re home by a mile. Did you see who you drew in the Semi?’

‘Debbie Jackson, for one. She was looking sharper than she did in San Diego.’

‘Eleven-fourteen,’ said Klugman, ‘but she was spent doing that. Shelley Wilson is the girl in form: eleven point zero five, eleven point zero three. She’s the main opposition. And in the Final, Francie Harman, of course. She’ll be sleeping on that ten point ninety-eight tonight. Something good from you in Semi-Final One could throw her, but I think she’ll follow you home in the Final. Any problems?’

Goldine smiled. ‘Not any more. It’s a long time since you said I was good, Pete. Francie can sleep on her ten point ninety-eight. I’m happy.’

U.S TRACK AND FIELD TRIALS: GOLDINE’S RUSH

By Ches Nottingham

EUGENE, Ore., July 12 — She’s 19, blond and the fastest girl in America. You don’t have her phone number. You don’t know her name. No need to write it down, fellows, because after today in Eugene, Oregon, you’ll hear a whole lot more about Goldine Serafin.