Page 66 of The Perils of Paulie
“Urgh.”
Beyond Paulie, Melody stood with Max and Tessa. There was a distinctively unpleasant cast to Melody’s face, an expression that just got worse when she wrapped her arms around herself.
“You are also bound to follow the route set down by the race officials. You should reach the northern oblast city of Petropavlovsk this afternoon. If you wish to push on to Kurgan, you will be well inside the borders of Siberia. Following that, you will proceed through Yekaterinburg, Izhevsk, Novgorod, and Moscow. After that, youleave Russia behind and travel through Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and of course France. This follows much of the route of the 1908 race, which of course will thrill our viewers.”
Paulie’s fingers bit into my arm. I raised my eyebrows at her, mouthing, “Scared?” at her.
“Are you kidding?” she whispered. “I’m so excited, I could scream. I feel just like Nellie Bly!”
“Erp.”
We both turned to look at Melody.
“You OK?” Paulie asked her.
“I think something I ate didn’t agree with me,” Melody answered back.
“You can sleep in the backseat while Dixon and I drive,” Paulie told her. She nodded, but didn’t look in the least bit enthusiastic.
I cast a worried eye over Melody. She was looking worse, if that was possible, a light sheen of perspiration now glistening on her upper lip.
“Naturally, we expect good sportsmanship to be the credo that you live by, at least during the race.” Roger chuckled at his own joke. No one else so much as smiled. “It’s up to you whether or not you wish to take pity on a fellow racer on the side of the road with a blowout, but keep in mind that the cameras will be filming those adversities over other, more mundane possibilities.”
“What’s the matter?” Max leaned to the side and looked worriedly at his daughter. “You look as green as a frog.”
“I feel green.” Melody moaned, clutching herself tighter.
“As mentioned in the itinerary, the support vehicles—that is, my car and the two cars with the camera crews—will be changed at each border. But fear not—the GPStrackers on your cars will allow us to quickly locate you and catch up for filming purposes.”
Melody swayed and put her hand over her mouth. She was sweating profusely now, and both Tess and Max had moved next to her, murmuring questions and suggestions of treatment.
Roger consulted a clipboard. “I believe that’s it. You all know the rules, and I know you will adhere faithfully to them while providing exciting scenarios for our viewers. Remember: you don’t race just for your own satisfaction, but for the millions of people who will be cheering you on over the other racers.”
Everyone other than the Essex team and Roger were now watching Melody with worried glances.
“I believe that’s all I have. Good luck, stay safe, and remember to save your interesting bits of conversation for the cameras! Are there any questions?”
Melody swayed again, staggered forward a couple of feet, and vomited all over Roger’s shoes.
He looked up while she was still retching, doubled over with her hands on her knees. He pinned Tessa back with a look that should, by rights, have stripped the hair from her head. “You told her to do that, didn’t you? You told her how you spewed all over my shoes the first day we met, and she decided to duplicate that event, didn’t she?”
“Of course not. Don’t be stupid,” Tessa snapped, and rushed forward with Max. “She’s sick! She has food poisoning!”
Melody wretched several times more, then collapsed, her face drained of all color and her flesh moist and clammy.
Paulie offered her services as someone who’d had numerous first aid courses, but there wasn’t much she could do other than suggest that Melody see a doctor. After anurgent discussion with the translator and the hotel people, Max finally arranged for medical aid to check Melody out. They took her away to the hospital a short while later.
Max and Tessa followed the ambulance in Roger’s car, while one of the production assistants drove the Ducal car after them.
“You come with us,” Roger yelled from the passenger seat of the car, gesturing at the second film team. “Tabby and Sam can go with the other two. I just hope to hell that they don’t get too far ahead, or Max and Tessa will never catch up...”
Ah. Paulie is done with her bath. I’ll finish up another time.
Paulina Rostakova’s Adventures
JULY 31
5:51 a.m.
