Going Places – Sandra 20

[For back story go here: Story so far at 27 July 2020 and more recent Sandra episodes.]

[Relevant back story links also within text.]

“So what are your other interests?” asked Brenda.

“Other interests?”

“Well, I’m guessing you like technology, people, relationships – all of that kind of thing, right? I mean it goes without saying. But what else does Sandra Dedbury do? What else switches her buttons? That we might not know about?”

Being a minor celebrity was really not that bad on the whole. People phoned you up, emailed you for quotes and thoughts, and in general it didn't matter whether you said good or bad things, people accepted it all and thought it was great whatever. This was, of course, a mixed blessing. You could end up looking like an idiot and people would make sure you knew it, but one thing was for sure, minor celebrity was usually a short run thing so whatever happened, Sandra needed to make the most of it while it was here.

The cute kitten email had spread far and wide and brought more people to the app. Sandra was slightly mystified by this as she came from the school of 'if you want it and you can Google it then why do anything else?’ but if people wanted to be referred to these particular cute kittens via their app she was more than happy to oblige.

They had yet to discover precisely who was behind the kitten attack and Sandra really thought they would want to come forward and take all the credit, but perhaps it was enough that they'd put the kittens out there. Or perhaps...

"I'm just floating a boat here," she said on a call with Trinny and Adrian, "but could they be... Trojan Kittens? You know, kittens that look lovely and friendly and sweet but are actually sneaking in something more deadly?"

"Checked it all out," said Adrian, "Nothing bad. Worse case scenario is it’s a practice run. Someone's using us to hone their skills."

"So the next one will be bad?"

"Right," said Adrian, "But they're unlikely to try us again and we're already fully protected - even if they up their game.”

“Travel must be quite high on your agenda?” ventured Brenda, “I mean, you must have travelled extensively to be able to do Together…Apart on an international scale.”

“I…. suppose so,” said Sandra. “But really it’s research and finding the right people who know about this kind of thing.”

A load of new quarantine rules had come into play for international travellers and holiday makers and Sandra and the team were running to catch up. Not only were they simply concerned for with the more simple ‘what do I do if I'm coming back from here’, but there were a number of people who seemed to wilfully be making their job more difficulty by mixing their countries of origin in imaginative and trying ways. Hence, what could someone who'd returned from France and was distancing from everyone else do if they'd fallen in love with someone returning from Croatia where the rules had more recently changed? And when could they do whatever it was they could do? Or actually what they wanted to do?

Despite this kind of material, Sandra was unwilling to place herself as an international travel specialist. She certainly didn’t want to be telling people where to go to if they wanted a good time – so to speak.

Brenda was now sounding a little weary and getting slightly impatient. Sandra guessed this came with the job. Brenda was trying to book Sandra onto an early(ish) morning TV show where Sandra would talk about work, kittens and more. But really they needed another hook, just to tie everything up. Without thinking about it, Sandra delivered exactly what was required.

“I like cooking,” she said.

“That’s it! Excellent, excellent, we’ll use that,” said Brenda. “Not sure if you’ll be in the studio or video linked yet but we’ll get you to do a recipe while talking to Paul and Charmaine. Nice relaxed atmosphere, few laughs along the way and a good recipe too. Do you have something you can give us or shall we line something up?”

“I’ll find something,” said Sandra. “I might not know how to make something else – I don’t want to look foolish.”

“Oh don’t worry about that,” said Brenda, less than reassuringly. “We’ll get you on sometime next week - have a think about what you’ll cook and we’ll take it from there. Alright my darling?”

“Um, I guess so.”

“Just one other thing,” said Brenda, “Is your middle name really Xanadu?”