Chapter 21

Deann's first professional modeling session was scheduled for eleven o'clock Friday morning and in the event proved to be remarkable. She was accompanied to the shoot by her brand-new agent and manager, Kristin Harris, and by Jill Barnes, primarily for moral support.

John Clark, the photographer, smiled happily when the three arrived precisely on time. To both models and top photographers, time is literally money. Then his eyes widened as he noted the speed with which Deann got into her outfit. His lights and camera were already set up, ready to go. He moved her into position and then moved her arms, head, and torso into the position he wanted ... or thought he wanted.

In every case, Deann took and held the precise position in which he had set her, but he wasn't happy. And clearly it was not the model's fault: She was doing everything he asked and doing it instantly.

After several minutes of being moved from one position to another, Deann spoke up. "Mr. Clark, perhaps it would speed things up if you just told me exactly what you're looking for."

Clark told her. She smiled, changed position and facial expression and asked, "How's this?"

He just beamed. "It's absolutely perfect is what it is!" After a couple of adjustments to the lights and reflectors, he started snapping.

Then, to the surprise of both Deann and Kris, he asked her to change into another outfit, and was again amazed at the speed of the change. Clark was no dummy. When she was dressed, instead of posing her, he told her what he had in mind for the next shot. Instantly, Deann struck a pose and again he beamed. He admitted to himself that in both cases her pose was both perfect for his assignment and one that it would have taken him days to come up with himself, if, indeed, he ever would.

The process was repeated with a third and then a fourth outfit. Finally after two hours they finished. The four pulled up chairs around a small table and started to eat lunch: a sandwich platter Clark had ordered in from a nearby delicatessen. As they ate, John was looking at Polaroids he had taken in advance of his formal shots. Setting them side by side on the table, he asked Jill and Kris to take a look.

They did, and Jill said, "They look fine to me, but I'm certainly no expert."

Kris did not respond.

John slowly shook his head. "They're unbelievable, is what they are. First, please note that each is so different from the other three that there might have been four different models." He paused, again shook his head, and said, "Deann Washington, you are utterly unbelievable!"

Then he explained the modeling facts of life to the three women: "The fact is, models are known for different things. When I select a model for an assignment — and with my clients, model fees are not a consideration — I think of the assignment's requirements and select a model accordingly. Each has her strengths ... and weaknesses. For example, in general, you can't use a swimwear model for a formal gown and vice versa."

After a pause he continued, "But Deann? This girl is unreal! You don't know this, but I really brought her in this morning for some test shots. I scheduled in an experienced — and top-priced — model on Monday for the real shoot.

"But what did I get? I got final shots better than I even hoped for. But is that all? Hell, no! The next three were scheduled over the next ten days. But now they're done and again better than I even dreamed. And you know something else? There were four different models coming in; no single model could handle any two of these outfits ... but Deann did, and did it perfectly!"

Turning to the girl he said, "There's one thing I just cannot believe: You must have done this before. No one could possibly be as good as you are right out of the box!"

Deann assured him that she had never even thought of modeling until Jill called her at school on Wednesday. Then she snapped her fingers and amended her statement. "That's not quite true. But I haven't thought of modeling since I was about eight years old. Modeling came after I was going to be a movie star when I was seven and before I was going to be a great pop singer like Whitney Houston."

Clark just shook his head. Turning to Kris he said, "I have a small bone to pick with you..."

"With me?" Kris replied, startled.

"Yes, with you!" he emphasized.

"What did I do?"

"You left a ton of money on the table is what you did." Clark made a clucking sound and then added, "And I thought you were supposed to represent your client's interest. And she is a minor, too."

Kris was truly chagrined and didn't know what to say.

John Clark looked at his watch and then said, "Look, Kris, I've really laid it all out for you, but let's review the bidding: First, I've already told you that I really invited Deann in her for a couple of hours of test shots. Second, I had previously booked in four top-priced models over the next ten days. But what did I get? I didn't get my test shots. Instead I've completed four assignments, and wholly due to Deann, it's the best work I've ever done.

"And for this I'm paying her two-thousand dollars? Get real!" Then to the amazement of all of the women he took out his checkbook and wrote a check to Kris for Deann in the amount of ten-thousand dollars.

Kris looked at it and gasped. "But ... but..." she stammered, "this is five-thousand dollars... an hour!"

"You're right. It is. And look at all the money I'm saving for my clients. I had those four girls booked in for four hours each ... at a thousand dollars an hour! That's $16,000 in total. Instead, I'm paying Deann $10,000 ... and have results far superior to what I would have gotten from the others, besides.

"Okay?"

Kris just weakly nodded her head.

At that point, Clark excused himself to make a phone call. A few moments later, he was back and said, "Could Deann do another shoot at 2:30? I have my buddy, Kurt Rohmer, on the phone. He's probably Europe's top fashion photographer, but he's working over here for a couple of months. The studio he's using is just around the corner, and he would like to use Deann for a couple of hours."

He paused and then dropped a bomb: "I told him what happened here this morning, and he's offered Deann's standard fee: five-thousand dollars an hour."

Kris was utterly bewildered, and her head was shaking like a punch-drunk fighter. "John, I just do not understand. Why are you doing this?"

"For several reasons," he replied. "In the first place, I'm selfish. The fact is, Kris, that this young woman is literally in a class by herself. She's so damned good that even a hack could produce great work ... if he's smart enough to do what Deann says, that is. But frankly, I don't want to give them a chance. By pricing her at five thousand, she's far out of their reach.

"Second, as I said earlier, she's an utterly incredible talent. Aside from her stunning beauty, she imparts an aura to everything she does. It utterly reeks with class!

"Third, in just a very short time I've come to appreciate Deann for the woman she is. I honestly cannot believe she's only a junior in high school. But she is. And you know what else? She's madly in love and that shows in the pictures, too." Shaking his head slowly he added, "That Tank Brown is the luckiest guy in the world!

"And fourth, relating to number three, it's clear that her education and her high-school years are very important to her. That being the case, clearly her available time will be severely limited. And that being so, anyone wanting to use her is really going to have to pay for the privilege.

"Anyway, that's it. What do you think, Kris?"

"I think we see Herr Rohmer — at five thousand an hour — is what I think."

And the three were off. As John had said, Kurt's studio was just around the corner. They were warmly greeted and learned that he, too, had been at the fashion show the day before.

The shoot started off in a fashion similar to the way they had left John Clark: Deann dressed in the designated outfit, then learned from Rohmer the effect he wanted to achieve and just did it. And, like Clark, Rohmer was utterly astonished with the outcomes.

The third shot was for BMW. After dressing, they discussed the shot and Deann just shook her head. "This needs a prop..." She thought for a few moments and then suggested, "How about a tiger?" Earlier that morning she had met Pasha and Shari and had fallen in love.

"A... what?" Rohmer exclaimed. Then he just shook his head. He spoke perfect English, albeit with a heavy Germanic accent, but this time he thought his knowledge of the English language — or American English at least — had failed him. He thought he was hearing some new idiomatic usage he had never encountered before.

"You know..." Deann explained. "Four legs? Sharp teeth? Very sharp claws? And big! One of those things?"

Rohmer's eyes widened. "You can't be serious! You really mean a tiger? A real live tiger?"

Deann just rapidly nodded her head.

Jill called Caitie at the penthouse and made arrangements for Shari to be sent down to the studio. In the meantime, Deann changed into the outfit for the fourth and last of the shots. They had just finished when Shari appeared accompanied by a chauffeur.

The car they were to use for the shoot was a BMW 650i convertible. Deann put on the selected outfit and she and Shari talked about the car. Then Deann snapped her fingers, disappeared into the dressing room for just a few moments and emerged wearing Levi's cut-offs and one of Caitie's near-infinite supply of ragged work shirts.

"Utterly perfect!" Rohmer exclaimed. "The contrasts between this magnificent machine, Deann's incredible natural beauty, her ragged attire and then this beautiful Royal Bengal tiger ... It's unreal!"

Deann teased Shari, and the tigress mugged for the camera. When Deann told her that the BMW had a smoother ride and was faster than Shari besides, a single large tear trickled down her furry face. Then to the surprise of everyone else, Rohmer produced an electronic video camera and continued shooting. In one scene, Deann was behind the wheel while Shari sat upright in the passenger seat. Fortunately, the top was down permitting this to happen. Rohmer even activated a huge pedestal fan and set it to blow at its top speed right into Shari's face which, of course, was well above the top of the windshield.

Finally they wrapped it up. And again the women were stunned. For the two hours, Rohmer paid twenty-five thousand explaining that he had put together a TV commercial, too. Moreover, he explained that, even though he had said nothing earlier, he had shot Kris's twin, Jean Dawson, and her daughters for BMW.

Looking at Deann he asked, "Do you really like this car? You certainly seem to." The 650i was one of the newest in the BMW line. The unit they had been working with was silver.

"Do I like it?" Deann replied with a grin. "You've got to be kidding! Who wouldn't love it?"

"Okay," Rohmer said blandly, "it's yours." Then he grinned and said, "Am I correct? You're planning on being here in New York until Sunday evening?"

Deann just nodded in the affirmative.

"Neat! It will be shipped out of here to Kentucky tonight and I'm almost certain it will be at your home when you get back." He grinned and added, "Personally, I think it's a pretty neat item for a girl to use to get to high school."

Deann was stunned. Not only had she earned $35,000 in only a few hours, it appeared that she was getting a new car worth more than double that amount, too.

Before she could say another word, though, Rohmer continued, "It's subject to my client's approval, but that's a foregone conclusion. You will be joining the Dawsons in BMW advertising. You'll have the same deal they have: $25,000 a day, all expenses paid on top, with the meter running from door to door. If you can work it in, I would like to have you in Europe for a couple of weeks this summer. How does it sound to you, Deann?"

"How does it sound?" she replied dreamily. "It sounds like I never woke up this morning. It sounds better than the very best dream I've ever had in my life!" Then turning to Jill and Kris she asked, "How does it sound to you two?" Then she shook her head as if to clear it and added, "To me it sounds too good to be true."

"It's real," Kris said softly. "The fact is I represented my sister in those arrangements and they're working exactly as Kurt represented them." To him she asked, "Will this include the driving school, too?"

"Of course!"

"What driving school?" Deann asked.

"Well, it may cause some scheduling problems, but BMW sent Sandy and soon, Susan, through a 60-day professional race driving course. And you'll be going, too, if we can get the timing to work."

"One more thing," Rohmer added. "Could we borrow this beautiful tigress again, too?" Then he snapped his fingers and wrote out a check to Kris for another ten-thousand dollars. "This is for the owner of this great cat." He grinned and added, "As Deann pointed out to Shari during the shoot that while gasoline is very expensive right now, it's still less than the cost of feeding her. Furthermore, unlike the car, Shari has to be fueled whether she's working or not."

While the women howled with laughter, Shari stuck out the tip of her tongue.

They wrapped it up for the day and Kurt offered refreshments. No sooner had he poured wine for the women and a Coke for Deann when John Clark arrived with a full set of first proofs from the earlier shoot. Kurt had Polaroids and showed the DVD he had made for BMW. John was utterly awestruck. "Isn't there anything this girl can't do? Good grief! I've never seen such natural talent for comedy; the girl is fantastic!"

Only then did Kris think to check her cellphone. She had shut off the ringer much earlier in the day so as not to disturb the shootings. She was astonished at the number of voice mails for her. Suddenly, she became aware of the value of being in the presence of two such famous photographers: While she recognized a few of the names, most messages were from people she had never heard of.

One by one she reviewed the messages. Interestingly, John and Kurt agreed on most of them, whether the answer was yes or no. Further, they rolled their eyes at the number of other world-renowned talents who had left their most private, answered-at-all-times, numbers.

John chuckled, "Kris, you could make more than a few bucks just by selling those phone numbers. Some of those people are the hardest to reach of anyone on the planet. And they're all telling you to call at any time. And they really mean it!"

Using the input from her two new friends, in just a few short minutes Kris had booked Deann for six hours each on both Saturday and Sunday. And the rate — without the hint of an objection — was five-thousand dollars an hour.

With those arrangements complete, Kristin Harris slowly shook her head. "Honest, guys," she began, "John explained it, but I still don't understand it. How can this girl command such fees?"