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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Golden Bee" data-source="post: 9464397" data-attributes="member: 7041055">Girls of the Greenbrier “Her speech is in Russian and is about her experience being a trilingual ballerina. Do you think you’d like to read it?”Dr. Hazoul declined. Early October, West Virginia. Hope you’re ready for girls. Because we’re probably doubling the amount we’ve had so far in this 2 1/2 year campaign.In fact, have a look.[ATTACH=full]380569[/ATTACH]Each of these young ladies, from ages 12 to 17, were at the stately Greenbrier for the Girl Paragons Leadership Conference. Astute readers might even see some familiar names: Ava Astor and Alice Cavendish, Devika’s best buddies, and Buck Searsroe, rich airfield mogul and member of the Century Club.Chaperoning Miss Devika were Professor Hemet Hazoul, Thaza O’Rourke, and someone who has known Devi since before she was born, Kabir Rupert OBE.Most of the adventure was meeting and greeting, trying to determine which mentorships were perfect matches (aviators Rosie Van Leer and Tex Johnston,paleontologists Lorraine Paget and Charles Glimore), and which ones were exploitation. Buck and Janie Voss were an example of the latter. Seeing her as a mathematical prodigy, he had emancipated her from her parents in order to get her collegiate and doctoral mathematic instruction. When Devi found out, she demanded that he allow visitation for her parents, maybe even hiring them onto his household staff. Money was wonderful, but parents were more important.Also under the yoke of exploitation: Albertha Robinson, a Harlem poet who had been taken under the wing of the self-aggrandizing HH Havermeyer. There was a bit of excitement (Russian emigre Polina Orlova got concussed from a golf ball to the back of the head), but the session was mostly about untangling the social web. Who liked who, who was in a clique… and the worst part, after-dinner speaking.Devi’s speech was a highlight, an advisory on the finer points of unofficial tipping, port authorities, and “unconventional cargo methodology”.The rest of the speakers varied from boring to amazing (Albertha being the best). Having recently been humiliated on stage (during last week’s adventure in Kansas), India’s richest girl was acutely aware of how awkward that could be. She worked with the rest of the ladies to cheer and exhort the more timid speakers. The second day of the conference started with flames! The building was ablaze, and everyone was panicking. Devi demanded Rafe rescue her expensive luggage, while she and Thaza rescued the elderly and the concussed. It was no problem for the catburglar raised by apes to clamber across the outside of the building, but it was a surprise to see Rosie and Tex effecting a similar rescue.Kabir and Hemmet, a more intellectual pairing, use their knowledge of architecture (and willingness to shout) to help evacuate their section. They discovered that Janie was gone, and had left behind her favorite doll! Muddy footprints led to a disused section of the Greenbrier. There, American fascists had kidnapped the girl. Not worst of all, but certainly bad, was that they were aided by Devi’s latest crush, tennis instructor Earl Mayer!The leader of the group should’ve done better research. It would’ve prevented his mind from being crushed under the mystic onslaught of India’s wealthiest mesmerist! (Not coincidentally, its richest girl.) It also would have prevented his joints from being torn apart by Hyderabad’s greatest judoka. Not much could be done for the rest of the fifth columnists, who were dispatched by Dr. Hazoul wielding a claw hammer.  You can research that all you want, nothing prepares you for a surprise sneak attack by a Tomb Looting Scumbag.Thaza freed Janie from their evil trap. No longer could they use the twelve year old’s mathematical genius for Aryan code breaking. Devi paraded the culprits in front of the rest of the conference guests, and allowed all the girls to spank them with tennis rackets until the police arrived. It was a weird move, but it converted all the nervous “there was a fire” energy into a “we’re taking back our agency” vibe.</blockquote>

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