It's beginning to look as if her dream might come true today, just as so many other dreams have done in the past few years. It's an unexpected answer, and people in the audience begin to laugh. The teenage model explains. My mother is divorced, and she's alone. . . . I don't want to grow old without a man.
Some people still find it funny, but there are more than a few moist eyes in the auditorium.
Kimberly does not win. When the names are called, she is second runner-up. Some of the girls who didn't make it leave quickly. Some stay and smile broadly to hide their disappointment. But Kimberly seems unaffected.