Hani had come a long way in her appearance, but her stupidity had failed to keep pace. Anyone talking with her for more than five minutes would realize she wasn t a beauty queen. But Hani batted her eyelids coquettishly at me as she applied fingernail polish. It reassured me enough that I completed the application for her, taking great care to mention Hani s pearly whites and great hair. Then I promptly forgot about it, as my attention returned to the weightier matters of training Hani.
All pageant winners do is cut ribbons at shopping malls.
I handed her the sponsorship letter, putting off the dreaded rejection from the pageant for as long as I could. Hani shrieked as she opened the letter from the calendar people. She had been selected for Miss January, and what s more, the corporal in charge of the motor pool had a weekend pass and was wondering if she'd like to hit up dinner and a bugle corps competition with him if she was available Friday night. Hani was shrieking with excitement and jumping up and down while her stiletto heels left deep gouges in the cement floor of my office. I had to mace her to calm her down, before I could deliver the inevitable disappointment from pageant central.