Sorry this took so long, but I do have an extra-long update to make up for it. Hopefully this will be mostly wrapped up in a few more chapters. Also, this is a bit of a flashback. I thought you needed to see Piggy setting up her adoption of her baby.
Piggy was actually at work for once, piecing together next month’s issue and trying to work in the advertisements seamlessly with the editorials, photo spreads, and other items of interest to the fashion world. After working for Vogue and Elle, Piggy was more than qualified for the job at the small magazine, but the pay had been phenomenal considering the truly teensy amount of work she was expected to do most of the time. In fact, Piggy was perfectly aware that the only reason they had hired her was so they could advertise that they had hired her.
It was good to be a fashion icon.
She was actually involved with the layout when her phone rang and she checked it almost absentmindedly before she suddenly remembered who Louise was and why she was important.
“Hello?” Piggy asked, trying to sound busy and successful yet willing to make time for the little people.
“Miss Piggy, this is Louise Southerford. I have interviewed Tandy and she is very happy to accept your generous offer. When can you be here to sign the papers?”
“Oh…um,” her mind was racing—her normal recourse was to put off making appointments to make herself look more in-demand. But this…this was too important for games. She flipped open her calendar and asked, “Is this evening too soon?”
“That would be fine. I’m sure Tandy will be available. Shall we say six at my office?” the lawyer more stated than asked.
"Yes, that would be perfect,” Piggy said, crossing out a dinner date on her calendar and writing in ‘Louise’ instead. “Ciao.”
“Goodbye,” she replied. Then Piggy gently closed her cell phone and stared at the ceiling of her office until her hands stopped shaking.
~~~~~~~
Piggy arrived early, but the ever-competent Louise was already there, naturally. Piggy found herself managed by a capable secretary who had her sipping coffee and nibbling cookies off a small coffee table almost before Louise could take her coat. The lawyer didn’t pour herself a cup, but she did take a seat across from Piggy in what looked like a much-less-comfortable chair.
“Tandy will be arriving around six thirty, so this is our last chance to hammer out any additional details,” Louise said briskly. Piggy nodded gravely, setting her half-eaten cookie back down for the moment. “When she arrives it is important that you remain highly positive and confident; Tandy is young and impressionable—she responds well to authority and we don’t want her having doubts and trying to back out at the last minute.”
Miss Piggy felt her breath catch. “Does that, er, happen often?”
“It can be a bit of a problem,” Louise said, as if she had not just revealed a terrifying piece of information that sat like a bomb in the corner of her corner office, ticking away.
Piggy swallowed, took a deep breath, and prepared for the most important performance of her life.
In the end, Tandy didn’t look very frightening. A small slip of a pig, she had the special brand of limp blonde hair only produced by a third-class salon and the slumped shoulders of a waitress who had dreamed of being a star. Though she was certainly beautiful and plumply pig-ish, Tandy still managed to look waif-like; the biggest thing about her was her protruding abdomen.
Piggy smiled at her gently, trying her best to project motherly competence as well as her usual air of glamour and sophistication. “Bonjour, Tandy. It is a pleasure to meet you. Moi’s name is Miss Piggy.”
“Hello,” Tandy said, her voice twanging slightly.
“How are you feeling today?”
Stymied, Piggy settled for simply smiling at the young pig. Luckily Louise took that moment to break in, gesture Tandy to a chair and hand her what looked like a large pile of paperwork and smiled her shark smile. “So, Tandy, if you are still in agreement with my client in regards to the custody of your daughter and are satisfied with the terms I’ve outlined, we may be able to get this whole business tied up in a day.”
“Oh…yes,” Tandy said in a small voice, her hand going protectively to her stomach.
Tandy’s eyes flickered to her and Piggy could feel her weighing the designer suit and handbag, the genuine diamond and pearl necklace, the perfectly made-up face, and her coiffed, just-from-the-most-exclusive-salon-in-town hair. Her face contorted into a funny kind of rueful, self-mocking smile, the most expression Piggy had seen from her yet. For a minute she was almost certain Tandy was thinking of walking away. But instead she shook her head, sat back in her chair, and began to examine the documents in front of her.
Piggy let out a sigh of relief. This was all going to work.