\u201cYou must be the children from the Short Stars Modeling Agency,\u201d gushed the perfectly groomed receptionist.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cUm…yes,\u201d replied Arden hesitantly. \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWell…how clever of the modeling agency to send such, such…natural looking children,\u201d said the receptionist in a tone that was clearly meant to be tactful. \u201cThis will make for some perfectly realistic advertisements!\u201d She rang a bell on her desktop, and three men dashed into the room from one of the doorways behind her.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cJust a little spit and polish!\u201d cried the man with a spray bottle and a handful of makeup brushes. He pulled out a comb and gave Ari\u2019s hair a quick workover. <\/p>\n
\t\u201cNow,\u201d said the man with a clipboard, pointing at the man with a television camera. \u201cLook straight at the camera and say \u2018Thanks Mom! Hunka-Vites are the greatest!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cExcuse me,\u201d interrupted Arden. \u201cBut our agency promised us we\u2019d get a tour of the factory.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cNo time! No time!\u201d cried the man with the clipboard. \u201cNow missy…look straight at the camera and say \u2018I just love their orangy goodness!\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWHO are THEY?\u201d shrieked a high-pitched voice from the entryway.<\/p>\n
\tThe clipboard man dropped his clipboard, and the makeup man snagged his comb in Arden\u2019s hair. Everyone stared at the front door.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWE\u2019RE your child models!\u201d howled a girl with hair so perfect it almost looked like plastic. She was followed by a boy who appeared to be practicing grinning and pouting on cue. \u201cWho are THOSE children? They\u2019re scruffy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cActually…\u201d said Ari, \u201cwe\u2019re really just here to…um, sell cookies.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThat\u2019s right,\u201d added Arden. \u201cBut none of you seem like the cookie-eating type, so we\u2019ll just be going.\u201d She grabbed Ari by the arm and, hoping no one would notice in the confusion, pulled him toward a doorway behind the reception desk.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWait!\u201d cried the receptionist. \u201cStop! Oh, I can\u2019t believe this! Oh…if only the guards weren\u2019t off duty today.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tBut Arden and Ari didn\u2019t stop. They opened the door and ran through as the receptionist\u2019s panicked voice called \u201cBut nobody\u2019s allowed in there! Oh my goodness, you\u2019re so right! They are scruffy!\u201d<\/p>\n
\tAri slammed the door behind them. They were in a hallway with several similar doors. There was no time to choose.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cDid you hear what she said?\u201d asked Arden breathlessly. \u201cThe guards are off duty!\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cThey must have gone to the fight,\u201d said Ari, pushing through one of the doors. \u201cCome on!\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cPlease stand still for sanitizing,\u201d came a prim voice from nowhere, as the small tiled room in which they were now standing began to mist them with a blue spray.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSomewhere else!\u201d cried Arden \u201cKeep going!\u201d <\/p>\n
They ran through the spray toward a metal door on which were painted the words \u201csanitized entry only.\u201d\tThey pushed it open and entered a cavernous hall filled with glaring light, roaring equipment, and about two-hundred boys in blue jumpsuits.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou must be the children from the Short Stars Modeling Agency,\u201d gushed the perfectly groomed receptionist. \u201cUm…yes,\u201d replied Arden hesitantly. \u201cThat\u2019s right.\u201d \u201cWell…how clever of the modeling agency to send such, such…natural looking children,\u201d said the receptionist in a tone that was clearly meant to be tactful. \u201cThis will make for some perfectly realistic advertisements!\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}