“My only pleasure was to swim under water with my eyes open, and my hair floating.”

— Anaïs Nin, from a diary entry featured in Mirages: The Unexpurgated Diary; 1939-1947

"The ocean / as one gorgeous excuse for drowning."

Silent and watchful, the girl didn't fully understand what the adults were talking about. Her presence there might be considered pointless, but her mother never explained herself to anyone. And sure enough, there was much to learn indeed.

Lorelei liked to watch her mother instead of the old, wrinkly committee board. They were irascible and mocking, but Mrs. Hendrix never let them throw her off her game. When they jested, she took a moment to recollect her smile and straighten her back, then continued to present her meticulous arguments – arguments, the girl knew that had been painfully researched for nights before because not only once did she have to put a blanket over her sleeping shoulders.

Later, when she's older, Lorelei would notice how things changed: now people gave presentations in front of her mother, almost shaking with the fear of their proposals being rejected – the power had shifted.  Irremediably? She hoped yes, maybe.  After all, she fully believes it’s for the best. She’s passionate to make it be so, because of her mother, her role model. Lorelei believes they always made the best team.

She always had a place at her mother's right.