Don't Look Down

by Jennifer Crusie

  "I need sleep," she said as the bus pulled into base camp and then opened her eyes when she realized she'd said it out loud.

  Nobody paid any attention.

  Okay, she thought, as she got off the bus and headed for the camper. Check on Daisy, find Gloom, drive the camper back to the hotel, take a shower to get the dust off, then a hot bath so you can sleep…

  She opened the camper door and Pepper said, "Hooray, Aunt Lucy is here! The party can start!" and beamed, her WonderWear a bright splotch against the white camper curtains.

  "Party!" Lucy said, trying desperately to sound excited. "This is-" She stopped as she caught sight of Daisy, sitting in one of the swivel chairs beside Pepper, her generous figure making the most of her size-small WonderWear. "Wow," she said and started to laugh.

  "Laugh while you can, Monkey Girl," Daisy said. "Your Wonder-Wear awaits." She tossed a gold-painted rope across to her. "Do not forget the Lasso of Truth. We are nothing without our lassos."

  "Put it on, Aunt Lucy," Pepper said, and Lucy laughed again and climbed into the camper.

  She dropped the rope on the table and stripped off her jeans, shirt, and tank top. Then she pulled on the blue-starred pants and red camisole with the double gold Ws over her underwear. "What do you think?" she said to them as she went back to the dinette.

  Daisy burst out laughing.

  "You look wonderful," Pepper said. "We all look wonderful."

  Lucy slid into the swivel chair next to her, trying to forget her dreams of a hot bath. "So we need cake, right?"

  "Gloom is bringing it," Pepper said importantly. "With a surprise."

  "Gloom's surprises are excellent," Lucy said.

  "And J.T. is coming."

  "Good for J.T.," Lucy said, feeling more cheerful. "So what happens at a Wonder Woman party?"

  "Well, we can talk about Wonder Woman," Pepper said. "We can each say something we know about her."

  "I know something," Daisy said, bringing up a paper bag from under the table. "Or at least Estelle in wardrobe knows something." She took three gold lame headbands out of the bag, each with a big red star glued in the middle.

  "Crowns!" Pepper said, achieving ecstasy on the spot. She spread them out and took the smallest one. "They go on like this," she said, shoving the crown over her head, the elastic strip in back so that the lame went across her forehead.

  "Like that." Lucy watched Daisy pull hers on. "You look very cute in that," she said with a straight face.

  "Uh huh," Daisy said. "Put your crown on, Aunt Lucy."

  "Take your braid down first," Pepper said.

  Lucy pulled the tie from the end of her braid and shook her hair loose. Then she pulled the headband on.

  "You know," Daisy said, "you actually kind of look like her."

  "You do" Pepper said. "Go see yourself."

  Lucy got up and opened the door to the tiny bathroom. Her hair color was right, but the rest, not so much. "Nope. I don't think Wonder Woman is ever going to look like she's thirty-four." She turned back to Daisy. "You know, I used to think her uniform was sort of…" She shot a glance at Pepper, who waited to hear. "Not… fashionable."

  Pepper frowned, as if she wasn't sure what that meant but she didn't like it.

  "But I was wrong," Lucy said, keeping an eye on her. I his thing has immense possibilities." She put her hands on her hips. "I'm feeling very powerful. Shazaam!"

  "No,' Pepper said. "Wonder Woman says, 'Sufferin' Sappho.' "

  "You're kidding," Lucy said, while Daisy tried to stifle a laugh.

  "I can show you." Pepper pulled one of the comics out of the pile of loot on the table.

  "It's okay." Lucy went back to the dinette and sat down, yanking her WonderWear down as she sat, wondering if Wonder Woman had the same problem with wedgies. "I believe you. Sufferin' Sappho! It has a ring to it."

  "I'm certainly going to be using it from now on," Daisy said, her cheeks pink. She still looked tired, but she also looked ten years younger than she had the night before, and Lucy relaxed and thought, The hell with a hot bath.

  "You need your boots back on," Pepper said. "See?" She stuck out her rain-booted foot.

  Lucy looked at Daisy. "Your mama doesn't-"

  Daisy stuck out her red rain-booted foot from the other side of the table. "Go put those boots on. Aunt Lucy."

  "Right." Lucy went back to the bed to boot up.

  "And music!" Pepper yelled, and Lucy leaned over to the iPod dock and punched up Kirsty MacColl again until "They Don't Know" began to play.

  "Remember when we used to dance to this?" Lucy asked, not knowing if Pepper would, it had been so long.

  "Yes!" Pepper said, and as Lucy sat on the bed to pull on her boots, she came into the little hallway and began to bop to the music in her red rubber rain boots and Wonder Wear, looking like a very strange, very happy little go-go dancer.

  Lucy laughed, she couldn't help it, and the last of her tension went away. She shoved her foot into the second boot and got up to dance, too.

  Pepper had her eyes closed, bouncing on her boots, belting out, "We've got nothin' to lose," while she rocked her shoulders back and forth. Lucy caught her hands and she opened her eyes and smiled up, delighted, and they danced in the cramped little hall, the way they hadn't since Pepper had been tiny. God, I've missed her, Lucy thought, holding Pepper's hand up so she could pirouette. I can't let them go again. She looked up and saw Daisy biting her lip, her eyes bright, as Pepper sang, "Bay-bee!" on the turn, and she smiled at her sister and got the old Daisy smile back. Then Pepper belted out the next line, and Lucy danced her down toward the bed and back to the table, laughing with her, completely in love with her niece again, wondering how she could ever have let her family go.

  Kirsty had just finished when somebody knocked on the camper door.

  "Maybe it's J.T.!" Pepper said breathlessly as she yanked down her camisole. "I invited him."

  "That would be fun," Daisy said, looking at Lucy, her face split with a grin.

  Oh, God, no, Lucy thought just as breathless, yanking down her own camisole. Arguably, she was dressed, but still-

  Daisy got her big yellow straw hat and held it in front of her as she opened the door.

  "Oh, it's Bryce," Pepper said, just one shade short of rude in her disappointment.

  Bryce looked in at Daisy, stunned. Then he caught sight of Lucy and his jaw dropped.

  "Hello, Bryce," Lucy said, not bothering to cover up. Even if she could have blocked his view of the camisole and pants, there'd still be the tiara and boots to explain.

  Bryce let his eyes go from Lucy to Pepper to Daisy. "Is this some kind of club?"

  "Yes," Pepper said. "It's a Wonder Woman club."

  "Oh." Bryce nodded as if that made complete sense. Which it probably did. If there had been a Superman club, Bryce would have been the first one there in blue tights.

  "It's for girls," Pepper said. "But you can come if you want."

  "Nope," Bryce said. "I understand about girls only." He looked at Lucy. "Could I talk to you for just a second? Alone."

  "Is that okay, Pepper?" Lucy said.

  "Just for a second," Pepper said. "The cake isn't here yet anyway."

  "Good point," Lucy said and reached back for her white shirt before she went out the camper door.

  "Great outfit," Bryce said, when they were standing in the twilight outside the camper and she'd shrugged on her shirt.

  "Thank you." Lucy pulled her shirt closed across her camisole. "So what can I do for you?"

  "That thing today with J.T." Bryce shifted nervously. "Saving me when the rope broke."

  Lucy nodded encouragingly, thinking, Go away, Bryce.

  "That was really something."

  "The man's good," Lucy agreed.

  Bryce sighed in relief. "So you're not mad at him anymore."

  "Mad at him?" Lucy frowned. "Oh, yesterday. The bar fight."

  "That wasn't his fault," Bryce said, evidently alarmed by the look on her
face.

  Several people had slowed on their way across the dirt lot, and Lucy realized that the shirt might not have been a good idea since it left her bare-legged except for her red boots. And then there was the headband.

  "I'm sure it wasn't his fault," Lucy said. "That was a really smart move you made, Bryce, hiring him. I didn't think so at first, but he's great. You were right." She considered piling on more compliments to reassure him, but his face brightened right away.

  "I knew you'd see it my way," he said, going back to confident man-of-the-world.

  Mary Vanity opened the door to the makeup trailer, caught sight of Lucy, and almost fell down the steps.

  Lucy took a step backward, toward the camper. "So you go rest now." She shot a glance at Mary Vanity. "Really rest. In your room. By yourself. You have some stunts of your own tomorrow night, you should be rested."

  The stunts pretty much consisted of Bryce running around yelling with a non-gun, but that was close enough for Bryce to nod, soberly.

  "You're right," he said, "I have to protect my instrument," and it took Lucy a moment to realize that he meant his voice.

  "Right. Protect your instrument." Do not laugh, he will take it badly.

  He patted her awkwardly on the shoulder and then crossed the lot, stopping to talk briefly to Mary before he went on.

  She looked disappointed.

  At least you're not wearing blue pants with stars on them, Lucy thought and went back inside and closed the camper door.

  "What's wrong?" Daisy said, her face drawn again.

  "Nothing," Lucy said. "He just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to fire J.T."

  Pepper looked up from her Wonder Woman sticker book, her face alarmed under her gold headband. "You're going to fire J.T.?"

  "No," Lucy said. "I think J.T. is super." Daisy snickered, and Lucy ignored her. "He's nor getting fired, Pepper, don't worry." She sat down at the dinette and shoved her tiara back into place. "So what else do we know about Wonder Woman?" She kicked Daisy gently under the table and Daisy crossed her eyes at her and stuck out her tongue.

  "She's in love with Captain Steve Trevor," Pepper said.

  " There's something about a man in uniform," Daisy said, her eyes on the ceiling.

  "Especially if he has a really big knife," Lucy said and Daisy laughed again. That's good, Lucy thought. If dressing up like a dork and making dirty jokes made Daisy laugh, she'd do it nightly.

  "You should take off that shirt," Pepper said. "People can't see your top."

  "Right,' Lucy said, and took it off.

  Somebody knocked on the door of the camper and Pepper said, "J.T.!"

  The door opened and Althea poked her head in. "Oh. You're busy."

  "Wonder Woman party," Lucy said, as brightly as she had for Bryce. "What can I do for you, Al?"

  "Well." Althea licked her lips. "I was wondering…" She looked at Daisy and Pepper.

  "I'll come out," Lucy said and went down the steps. "What's wrong?" she asked, when she'd shut the camper door.

  "Do you think Bryce knows about me and J.T.?" Althea asked, looking anxious, evidently not noticing the Wonder Woman gear. Well, she'd probably worn stranger things in her career.

  "No, I don't think he knows," Lucy said. "And I wouldn't tell him if I were you."

  "God, no." Althea swallowed. "Because I think I might want to marry Bryce after all. You know."

  "Uh huh," Lucy said, not knowing.

  "Listen." Althea shitted in the dim light. "I think Stephanie knows about me and J.T. And she might think there was something with Nash and me." Althea added hastily, "She's wrong, of course, but…"

  When does Connor deep? Lucy wondered.

  "Could you tell her not to talk about me?" Althea said, sounding vulnerable.

  "Absolutely," Lucy said.

  Althea shifted again. "That thing J.T. did, jumping out of the helicopter without the cable."

  "Uh huh," Lucy said, thinking, Oh, hell, she thinks that was hot. Well, it had been. Sort of. Aside from the terror-stricken part.

  Althea was shaking her head. "That was crazy."

  "Exactly," Lucy said, jumping on it. "Not your kind of guy at all."

  "Suppose we'd been together," Althea said. "Suppose we'd gotten married and suppose he'd gotten killed? He wouldn't have been there to take care of me."

  "No, he wouldn't have," Lucy agreed, trying to put some indignation in her voice.

  "And I just don't look good in black."

  "Jewel tones," Lucy agreed. "Those are your colors."

  "Right," Althea said, relieved to be understood. "So Bryce doesn't know?"

  "I'm almost positive. And you know, I just talked to him, and he was going back to his room. Maybe if you-"

  "I should go," Althea said and walked off in the darkness to her waiting car.

  "Yep," Lucy said and went back into the camper.

  She sat down and said to Daisy, "Bryce still doesn't know that Althea…" she glanced at Pepper, now nose deep in a comic book, "uh, dated Rambo, right?"

  "I don't think so," Daisy said.

  "Good," Lucy said. "Now, Pepper, exactly why does Wonder Woman have white stars on her blue underwear?"

  "Because she fights for America!" Pepper put her fist in the air, the camper lights glinting off her aluminum foil bracelets.

  "Got it," Lucy said and then somebody knocked at the door. J.T., she thought before Pepper could say it, and then the door opened and it was Gloom, his arms full of bags and boxes, saying, "I got cake."

  "Yes!" Pepper exclaimed, and Gloom came into the camper and filled up all the remaining space.

  He put the cake box on the table and opened it, and Pepper sucked in her breath in delight. The bakery had done a pretty good job on the Wonder Woman drawing, but they'd done it in icing so lurid it looked radioactive.

  "It's beautiful!" Pepper said.

  "Is it chocolate?" Lucy asked.

  Gloom looked at her with disgust. "Of course it's chocolate. The ice cream is vanilla." He put the half gallon on the table next to the cake.

  "Ice cream," Pepper said, and bounced a little.

  "We were just discussing Wonder Woman." Lucy got up for plates. "When she's surprised, she says, 'Sufferin' Sappho.' So that's what we're going to say from now on. You can say it, too."

  "How can I not?" Gloom passed a plastic bag over to Pepper. "This is for you, Swamp Thing."

  "I'm not going back in the swamp again," Pepper said virtuously, and opened the bag. "A Barbie! A Wonder Woman Barbie!"

  "You're going to heaven for that," Lucy said to Gloom, passing him the ice cream scoop.

  "And it was not easy to find," Gloom said, prying open the ice cream. "Do you know how many Barbies there are? They had a Super-Girl. She was wearing white mittens."

  Pepper looked up from her Barbie box. "I know. Isn't that the weirdest!"

  Somebody knocked on the door and Lucy thought, For the love of God, and squeezed around Gloom to open it.

  Stephanie was there, hugging herself in the dark. "Can I talk to you?"

  "Just for a minute or the ice cream will melt," Lucy said and went down the steps.

  "I've been thinking, and if you tell me that you re not going to use the stuff we shot today, I'll believe you." Stephanie looked at her sternly. "I've watched you. I know you're used to dog food commercials but you're taking this seriously. You know it's bad for the movie. Just tell me it'll never be part of the film, and I'll let it drop."

  "It's not my call, Steph," Lucy said. "I'm not editing it."

  "If you don't send them the film, they can't put it in."

  "If I don't send them the film, I can get sued for four million dollars. And I've said that for the last time."

  Stephanie looked at her in disgust. "That's it, then."

  "That's been it from the beginning. Let it go. I here will be other movies."

  "Not like this one. If you won't protect this film, I'll have to. You leave me no choice." She lifted her chin and
walked away, probably congratulating herself on a great exit.

  Now what the hell does that mean? Lucy thought, and then Pepper called, "Aunt Lucy!" and she went back inside for cake and ice cream.

  She'd just stuck her spoon in her cake when somebody knocked on the door. "Sufferin' Sappho," she said, and while Pepper giggled, she swiveled around in her chair and opened the door.

  J.T. stood there, his mouth open to speak, but when he caught sight of her, no words came out.

  "It's WonderWear," Lucy said, surrendering to the inevitable.

  "I know," he said, staring helplessly. "I just wasn't ready for it."

  "J.T.?" Pepper stood up to look around Lucy. "J.T.! We have cake!"

  "Great," J.T. said, still looking at Lucy. "Cake."

  "You'll get used to it," Lucy said.

  "I hope not," J.T. said.

  "Come on, kid, give me your chair," Gloom said, and Pepper stood up so he could slide into her seat and then pull her into his lap.

  "Usually we have root beer and cheese sticks, but today we have cake," Pepper said to J.T. as Lucy slid into Gloom's chair so J.T. could have hers. "And Gloom got me a Wonder Woman Barbie!"

  "Whoops," J.T. said, climbing into the camper. "Guess you don't want this then." He handed her a Jax Comix bag and Pepper ripped it open.

  "It's a different Wonder Woman Barbie" Pepper said, overcome by her good fortune.

  "A different one?" Lucy asked.

  "Jax." J.T. settled into the chair she'd vacated. "I told him to find one so he turned up with some collector edition. He said it was still a Barbie." He grinned at her. "I am learning."

  Lucy smiled back at him, helpless not to. "Well, it's good you can be trained."

  "She has a blue cape" Pepper said, almost vibrating she was so happy.

  "Oh, and this." J.T. unbuckled something from his left wrist.

  Daisy was shaking her head. "You can't give her your watch."

  "It's not a watch," J.T. said. "It's a compass."

  Pepper took it in both hands. "Cool! Can I wear it over the bracelets?"

  "Yes," Lucy said. A Barbie and a compass. And he fell out of a helicopter for me. This is a good guy.