Career Girls by Louise Bagshawe

to see the piece, you got it with you?’
    She shook her head. ‘It didn’t come off.’ Rosen looked at her sceptically.
    Rowena Gordon, I hope you rot in the hottest corner of hell, Topaz thought, suddenly’ pierced with a white-hot anger. She pushed back her chair.
    ‘Mr Rosen, I’m obviously not suited for Westside. Thank you for seeing me. I won’t waste any more of your time.’
    Hey, hey, wait up,’ Rosen said softly. ‘I.didn’t say you could go. One of the juniors in entertainment is offsick this month. You’d be pasting, setting, making coffee, typing.., it’s pretty menial stuff, but it’s a way in. You want the job?’
     
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    No I don’t want the lob Topaz scrcamcd sileutly. 1‘111 the most intell(ent goddamned woman that ever set foot in your stinking rathole q.’ce, and I’m nobod),’s.fitcking gqfi’r!
    It was the only thing she’d been offered in more than a hundred interviews.
    ‘What’s the pay like?’
    ‘It’s shit,’ said Nathan Rosen.
    Tll take it,’ said Topaz.
    For the next two weeks she seemed to run ou adreualin, substituting the electric atmosphere of the office for more normal human fuels like food and sleep. She lost weight and lcarut how to gulp down a cup of coffee whilst ruuning from the art department to the uewsdesk with six differeut layouts in her hand. She typed up articles, corrected spelliugs, pasted photographs on to mockups, checked up ou facts for investigative pieces. She made coffee, typed letters, photocopied headlines and hated herself. She suggested cptions and ideas to the journalists and felt she
    was making a mark. She pushed herself in everyone’s face. The first Saturday Topaz had off, she slept all day.
    She learnt quickly because she had a fast eye and instincts about people. Jason Richman was writing a piece on the weirdest food in New York? Topaz had seen a guy selling chocolate pizza off West 4th Street. Josie Simous complained at the top of her voice that there was no one in the whole world with a fresh take on rock ‘n’ roll, and Topaz suggested she interview the doorman at CBGB’s. Josh Stein, the art director, couldu’t fit a long headline on to a page? Splice it across th.e diagonal, maybe, said Topaz. Write the article around it.
    ‘I need a title for this piece!’ bllowed Nathan Rosen across the: features desk, drowning out the incessant whirr of telephones, voices and computer typewriters.
    ‘What’s it on?’ asked Elise DeLuca, the deputy features editor.
    ‘Modern art at the Met … Heury Kravis is thinking of endowing a natioual collectiou Of American avautgarde stuff-its the lead story next week,’ Rosen yelled. ‘Biggest
     
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    thing sinccJ. P. Getty got the paiuting bug.’ ‘Modern Masters,’ said Elisc. ‘The Tate comes to NYC.’ ‘New York, New Pictures.’ ‘Cutting-Edge Kravis.’
    ‘All of those suck. They suck!’ bellowed Roseu. ‘All I’m asking for is one good goddamned line!’
    ‘How about “State of the Art, Art of the btate . murmured Topaz, passing his desk with two armfuls of photocopies.
    Rosen looked at her. ‘That’s good. I’ll use that,’ he said quietly.
    Later in the afteruoon Roseu stopped by her desk, where
    she was typiug up sonic hack’s drastically edited play review for scttiug. ‘See if you can do something with this one, Rossi,’ he said, trying not to stare at the beautiful firm young cleavage positioned directly under his nose. ‘I got two pages in the business section on Hiagcn-l)azs ice cream and how good it’s doing in Europe-four hundred per cent growth a year, stufflikc that.’
    ‘I’m uot surprised,’ said Topaz, rememberiug the lqfiagcu-1)azs car6 in Cornmarkct and how it was full of undergraduates even in l)cccmber.
    ‘Yeah, well. This is a real smart piece of busiuess reporting but it’s just that-business. I’d like to get some feel of ice cream in there, remind people what HiagenDazs tastes like. Associatiou makes the figures a lot more