Adrenaline coursed through her body, making her hands tremble. Getting people to adopt rescue dogs was tough enough, and now shelters would have to refute people spewing Ershovich’s lies. Given his reach, the comment would be a crippling blow for rescue organizations, particularly those that worked with pits.
The clip ended and cut back to Boris on the stage. “Want to know how I fixed her?”
The crowd roared, and the camera swooped over their heads, capturing the excitement. Someone held up a predictable handmadeBORIS IS FOR USsign.
“Stay with me, we’ll be right back after the break,” Boris said, bowing with his hands clasped in front of him, as if he were a holy man entering a temple.
His theme music swelled, and the camera panned back to shots of the ecstatic audience. An overweight woman in a floral top flashed a sign that saidTRAIN MY DOG, PLEASE!Men pumped their fists at the camera, making tough guy faces. The camera paused as a woman and her friend stood up to reveal a two-part sign.
Cora blanched. “Oh ... my ... God...”
“It’s it’s it’s,” Maggie stuttered.
Vanessa’s sparkly heart-covered sign saidBORIS WILL U...She smiled and danced for the camera in a jaw-dropping hot pink minidress, keeping it engaged as Winnie stood up next to her and unfurled her sign.
STOP ABUSING DOGS?!
The camera hovered on them as if the camera operator couldn’t believe what he was seeing and had to reread it to make sure. Vanessa threw down her sign and pointed to Winnie, who stood holding her sign over her head with an angry expression on her face. Still the camera remained on them. Vanessa gave the finger and mouthed “Fuck you!” right into the camera and the feed went dark.
Maggie downed the rest of her wine in a single gulp. “Holy shit, C! Your girls are gangsters!”
“It’sunbelievable! The best thing I’ve ever seen in my life! They’re not going to make it onto the show, but someone’s going to leak it, I guarantee it.” Cora grabbed her phone and pulled up Twitter.
Sure enough, it was already gaining traction. People were supporting the anti-Ershovich message.
Maggie left the room to get another bottle of wine. Cora massaged Fritz’s shoulders and stared off into space, trying to make sense of the electric surge that was coursing through her. She’d felt powerless to stand up to Ershovich’s bullshit for long enough. Now she had an amazing opportunity, an e-mail that had appeared in her inbox for a reason. A long shot by any estimation, but a chance just the same. A way to help the helpless in the biggest, loudest, most public way possible.
People seemed ready to hear an alternative, and she was finally ready to answer.
Cora leaned down and whispered in Fritz’s ear, “Il doit être arrêté.It’s time to overthrow the dictator.” Then she sent a text to Wade.
NINETEEN
Wade mobilized the moment Cora said she was ready, setting up the audition photo session in his home studio for the following day, before she could change her mind. Though Wade and Rachel were eager to help package her for her submission, getting a professional-looking photo of Cora and Fritz was proving to be more difficult than anticipated.
“Okay, act like this isn’t painful,” Rachel joked. She rested her expensive-looking camera on her hip and twisted her long black hair into a bun with the other hand.
“Is my face that awful?” Cora asked. She knew that her smile usually looked strained in photos.
“I’m kidding! But you do lookveddyserious, and I think it’s affecting Fritz. He seems a little stressed.”
Cora looked down at her dog, who was draped across her lap. “Oh, I think it’s your camera. Most dogs freak out at traditional cameras because it’s weird to dogs when people hide their faces behind that thing. Plus, that high-pitched whine from your flash is probably a little scary for him.”
“Isthatwhy Daisy runs away every time I try to get a good photo of her? Makes sense.” Rachel scrolled through the images. “In every shot so far, either you look a little off or Fritz looks a little off. See?” She handed Cora her camera and showed her how to flip through the first photos.
Cora scanned the images. Maggie had picked the Liberty floral button-down, casual blazer, and boyfriend jeans, so she knew her outfit was on point, but there was no ignoring her dazed expression in every photo. “Yikes, you’re right. I need to lighten up a bit, huh?” Cora had wide eyes and a frozen fake smile in each photo, and Fritz was either looking up at Cora for direction or at the camera with his ears back. He was yawning in many of the photos, a universal signal for canine stress. They both looked uncomfortable.
“What should we do?” Rachel asked.
“I’ve got an idea,” Wade piped up from his desk in the corner. “Let’s get Daisy in the shot, too. Would Fritz be okay with that?”
“Wouldyoube okay with that?” Rachel asked Cora.
“That might be cute! Two big dogs and me? I’ll look like the hound master.”
“Well, if that’s the vibe you’re going for, let me get our neighbor’s French bulldog, Lucy, in the picture, too. Want to give it a try?”
“Sure, it’ll be absolutely ridiculous. Let’s have them all play in the yard for a few minutes before we try to get them to settle down for a photo, though.”
