hown, what would you say to a
'Mandi Steele Lookalike Contest'? After something like that, you'd be just
another pretty tree in the forest while you're here."
After a moment of horrified silence, Mandi asked, "You're actually serious,
aren't you?"
Around a mouthful of french fries, Cade said, "Yup. I know a guy who can set
it up and they can build it into one of the other costume contests. It can be
the first of its kind."
"The what?!"
"The first ever 'Mandi Steele Lookalike Contest'. Who knows? If you enter,
you might even win. Think about it and call me back after the news."
He disconnected and Mandi sat staring at the phone. Had Cade lost his mind?

Chapter Eight

The last commercial ended and the fanfare intro music for the
top-of-the-hour news began as a camera zoomed in on the head and shoulders of a
smiling brunette anchorwoman who introduced herself as Wendy Swale.
When the first quarter of the hour dealt only with the usual sorts of news
and issues of the day, Mandi began to feel as if she'd been worried for nothing.
After all, John had the full weight of the US government behind him, and...
"Ladies and gentlemen," said Wendy, "We've just been informed that the
following footage, taken with a digital camera in downtown Atlanta earlier this
afternoon, has been sent anonymously to more than one hundred news organizations
worldwide. With more on the story, here's David Thrush, our news director."
Thrush's head and shoulders were full-screen as he greeted the audience,
then he was quickly reduced to quarter-screen as a second camera feed filled the
rest of the screen.
Mandi's fists clenched and her heart sank as she watched herself leap over
the taxi, lift the front end of it, and launch skyward. The camera rather
belatedly elevated to follow her upward and stayed focused on her until the taxi
exploded.
Car horns sounded, the camera swiveled and lowered to come to rest on a
rapidly approaching wall of traffic, and then there was a brief break of
blackness before the entire sequence of events was repeated.
As the scene replayed a few more times to his left, Thrush explained that
the pictures appeared to be genuine. He nodded to someone off-screen and the
repetitions of Mandi taking off with the car were replaced by a blow-up of her
face.
The expanded view wasn't very clear, but at that moment Mandi wasn't really
in the mood to critique ph