Six Board members visited Bankhaven that Friday. Nigel and his wife Regina, Martin and his ex-wife Dominique, and Dominique’s new husband Toby made up the representation of the Allens. Also with them was Bill Fitzsimmons Jr, the son of the original Allen family lawyer who had in time inherited their practice, following the Allen family policy that secrets should be shared among no more people than needed to know.

Errol and Benton made sure to meet them the moment they arrived at the Retreat. After a dinner, they headed to the Maple Street facility, something Regina had felt it necessary to insist on after Errol had tried organising it for the following morning.

Benton had made great play of arranging transport on short notice; they needed three cars to get everyone to the facility, and he had selected Lulu McKenzie, Tilly Roth and Kiki Morgan to act as their chauffeuses. While only Bill and Martin expressed their approval of this choice openly, Benton was sure Nigel and Toby also considered it a positive, and Dominique took a surprising motherly interest in Lulu’s filling belly.

Most importantly, as he stressed to them, the drivers were already unshakeably loyal to Mandatum, so privacy for discussion began the moment the doors closed on them in the vehicles.

He chose to ride with Nigel and Regina. Properly speaking, Errol should have accompanied them, but he dithered outside the cars and seemed relieved when Benton took the decision from him.

Regina gave him an odd look as he took his place, but once Kiki put the car into gear and pulled out of the Retreat’s parking lot, she said “Your father seems to have given you an unusual amount of input into the project.”

Benton nodded. “He wants to be sure my career in Mandatum will be successful,” he said. “I think he saw Project Bankhaven as a challenge.”

Nigel and Regina exchanged quick glances, and Benton realised he’d have to be more careful with his choice of words. He didn’t want to be too obvious about putting his father down. “Obviously, being able to help make the project a success under those circumstances would bode well for me.”

“And is it a success?” Nigel put the question bluntly, and clearly expected an answer to be just as blunt.

“Are you asking me now or by the month before national rollout?” he asked, with half a smile. “Because today I can only call it qualified at best, but I’ve been talking to Derek and we have a plan to turn it around.”

“Oh yes?” Nigel’s attention had sharpened. “And what does your father think about it?”

Benton hesitated, and before he’d found the words, he saw a faint smile form on Regina’s lips. “Loyalty to the family does you credit,” she said. “But there is a limit.”

“I…” He had to continue the pretence now he’d seeded it, so he had a tight path to walk here. “This is the first big project I’ve worked on with him,” he said. “I assumed he’d taken more of a leadership role on others.”

“And now?” Nigel asked.

“Well, since you’re asking these questions now… I can be pretty sure he wasn’t. Am I right?”

“Tell us about this plan.”

It was a smooth change of subject, but it was also an invitation for a pitch. Benton stepped up to do his best to deliver, outlining the Brand Ambassador toolkit, his brief trial of it, and his plan to use it to have the community self-police.

“There are a handful of people who haven’t hit our expected minimum personality correction yet,” he finished, “as I’m sure you know. But having the Bankhaven police act as our enforcement arm has been very effective. The next logical step is to outsource to our most loyal supporters within the community.

“We empower them, not to quash dissent, but to redirect frustration and find ways to turn it into loyalty. Now, obviously, we know you’ll want us to prove that this strategy works before we go national. And I’m a big believer that opportunity presents itself in the most unusual ways.

“I’ve earmarked Tammy Delaney as one of our Brand Ambassadors. Once properly instructed, she’ll be given rein on her daughter, with the goal to turn her into a proud asset of Mandatum.”

Nigel and Regina didn’t make an open comment, but the look they gave each other left Benton feeling more confident.

When they went into the boardroom at Maple Street, Regina turned to him and said “It’s probably best you wait out here. We’ll call you in once we’re ready.” He didn’t like it, but he wasn’t about to fight it.

He would have gone down to his office - he could get something done there, especially with Tilly waiting around for further driving duties - but wasn’t sure he could be back in time if it was a short conversation.

Benton wanted to settle down but he was, by nature, a pacer. In the middle of his marching up and down he sent Pymon a message on the internal chat:

Did the ankle bracelet get delivered today?

Three minutes later, the response came back:

He’s jailbreaking the software now. XoXo

By which Benton inferred that Betty was manning Pymon’s chat channels and that the two of them were prepared for a late night. He was glad; it was probably going to be a long one for both of them, but the sooner they were prepared, the better.

The door to the boardroom opened. His father walked out alongside Bill Fitzsimmons Jr, who was saying softly, “...obviously your pension will kick in from tomorrow. You’re required not to take a role with anyone who competes with Mandatum in any of our fields, as part of the no-compete. Financially it may not be as lucrative as before, but I assure you, the family will make sure you’re comfortable…” while keeping Errol moving at a brisk pace.

The moment he was out of his father’s line of sight, he began smiling. Nothing was certain yet, but surely…

Toby opened the door. “Come on in, Benton,” he said. “Bill will join us when he gets a minute.”

Benton followed him in and took a seat at the table. He put his palms down flat, ran his hands over the varnished surface. It felt great.

“I have explained your proposal to the other members here today,” Nigel said, “Following the removal of your father from office, that is.

“The Bankhaven experiment will need an Allen at the reins. We are convinced of that now.” He cleared his throat. “In confidence - and you are expected not to repeat this to your father - we did not expect the results from this trial that we’ve seen. Bankhaven was selected partly on your father’s recommendation, it being out of the way, and partly because he presented a ready-made blame taker if the failure had consequences.”

“For the time being,” Dominique took over, “we are happy to leave you as the ranking Allen in Bankhaven. But,” and she raised an admonishing finger, “we will require results for you to remain.”

Benton nodded.

“We will assess the Delaneys in three months,” Regina said. “If by that time they are both behaving exactly as they should, your position will be made permanent. In the meantime, you’re Acting Operational Manager for Mandatum Bankhaven.”

“Thank you,” Benton said, with a smile. “You’ll all be welcome back here for the final assessment.”

“Bill will go over the legalese with you,” Martin added, “once your father has been seen off the premises and his access has been revoked.”

“I’m looking forward to it,” Benton replied. “Ah - may I tell Derek to begin work on the Brand Ambassador rollout? I’d like to be ready to move tonight.”

“By all means,” Nigel said. “It’s good to see someone willing to put in the work.”

*

Elsewhere in Bankhaven, Tammy had been acclimatising slowly to working in the bar without her daughter’s presence. Some while earlier, she and Emma had arranged to have coffee together that morning, and initially the plan had been for Emma to host in her shop, but as the date came closer Tammy felt less comfortable being seen in Boutique Emilie.

Benton’s remark at the weekend - such a devoted company woman for a momma - had kept playing over and over in her head, too, so on the Thursday night she’d called Emma and suggested that instead she come over, so she could see the big overhaul which had turned Delaney’s into Tammy’s.

Emma hadn’t been entirely happy about it, but nonetheless she’d come over to see her old friend. The two women smiled and embraced, laughed and chatted, told jokes. It was just like it always was, except it wasn’t. There was a barrier between the two of them now. A place neither of them were quite willing to let the conversation go, and even though it never came up in conversation it overshadowed the whole morning.

When they parted, neither of them mentioned arranging another meeting in the near future. The last time that had happened, Tammy had been pregnant with her daughter. They’d still met up again a week after Nicole was born, or more accurately, Emma had visited.

She opened Tammy’s up just before lunchtime, a little disgruntled by her morning, but the professional smile was in place by the time Winnie Pond pushed the door open and stepped in. Winnie hadn’t changed much since Mandatum started investing in town; her wardrobe was gradually turning blue, and like many of the other women in town her curves were gaining definition. Beyond that, her personality seemed much the same; always too friendly, inquisitive, and eager to please to actually make and keep deeper relationships.

One of the new additions Mandatum (as represented by Benton) had requested for the Tammy’s makeover had been to have the waist-to-head-high mirror strip run not just behind the bar but around the side of the main area. Tammy hadn’t been sure of this at first, but she’d found it surprisingly pleasant since; wherever she was standing, whichever way she faced, she could easily check to see whether her blue Mandatum jeans had ridden a little too low, or if she was showing off her goods to best extent.

It was always good to check. Her body was so big a part of what made her money, she wanted to be sure it was going to grab people’s attention.

It had certainly grabbed Benton’s, she thought cheerfully. A little too young, not exactly inexperienced but there was some knacks he had yet to pick up, but it was still flattering to have the attention of someone so powerful, especially when her daughter had mentioned so much competition for his interest.

She stopped for a moment, beer bottle in one hand, empty glass in the other, and studied her outline in the mirror, turning her hips this way and that thoughtfully.

Maybe it was just the way Winnie Pond’s figure had changed lately which had it on her mind, but…

Were her eyes playing tricks on her or were her hips getting thicker?

Roddy White, just one table over, clearly realised what she was doing. “You’re an ornament to the town, darling,” he said cheerfully, and winked.

“Bless you, honey.” She winked back, and while she was a little embarrassed that anyone had noticed, she took care that nobody was going to see that while she served customers, flirted lightly, and generally kept up the spirits of her customers.

I’d rather be an ornament to Mandatum, she thought idly, and wondered at it. Bankhaven had been so proudly independent; so few larger brands had been allowed to set up or franchise within town limits, and even the Maple Street facility had needed a member of the Allen family living in town and the donation of considerable sums to the town school and municipal library to get the go-ahead.

Jan Carter had been the first to break from that, and it had been a while longer before Tammy had followed her. She’d done so for the same reason as everyone else who’d eventually come across; Mandatum were offering money, and even if times weren’t trying for everyone right at that moment, there had been lean years not long before.

Left to its own devices, Bankhaven could have gone on in a brandless bubble for a long time, but some of their costs were set outside the town, and economies were complex games. Tammy had bought in for money, and because…

…because…

Her mind skipped over the thought like a needle jumping on a broken record. Where had she been - oh, yes.

She hadn’t been the only one to oppose big brands. Now, happy to have the Allens’ support as well as Mandatum’s, she had to admit it; the business owners of Bankhaven had just been self-righteous hypocrites.

She was better off for Mandatum’s backing. Tammy’s was a better place, more suitable for the community. She was happy being a devoted company woman there; happy enough, anyway. She’d always been a woman who needed a project to shoot for, and soon it would be time to figure out her next big project.

It was all going brilliantly well until, around 6pm, the big double door was pushed open by Maggie Shaw and Jenny Phillips, resplendent in their tight-fitting, low-cut police uniforms, who stood there for a moment, blinking in the sudden lights of the bar, with Nicole Delaney between them, gripped by an arm each to steer her.

How strange, Tammy thought, that the women who looked like strippers almost more than police were the upstanding backbone of a Mandatum-sponsored, prosperous Bankhaven, while her daughter, after all that effort on Tammy’s part, had turned out to be a crash out.

She deliberately didn’t go across to meet them, instead watching from behind the bar as Maggie and Jenny brought her daughter across. “Tammy,” Maggie said in greeting, nodding respectfully.

Just a couple of months ago, the two women had been virtual strangers, if only because Tammy’s life very rarely brought her into contact with legal issues. Now they nodded to one another as equals, a comfortable respect present between them both.

“You’re home, then,” she said to her daughter.

“Well, we hope so,” Jenny cut in. Her tone was gentle but firm; impossible not to know that this woman had to manage fraught situations and hot tempers in the course of her role. “That depends on some things.”

“Such as?”

“That’s not for us to say,” Maggie cut in. “We’re just here to make sure Nicole stays where she should be while things get decided.”

“Oh.” She sighed, smoothing her hands down her front in a gesture born from nervous uncertainty. “Well. In that case, can I offer either of you ladies a drink?”

She was making the second mocha a couple of minutes later when the door opened again and Benton slipped into the bar, carrying a briefcase. If it hadn’t been for the mirrors, she wouldn’t have noticed; for someone who usually walked around like he owned the place, he could be surprisingly unobtrusive when he cared to be.

Ah, she thought. It made perfect sense to her that Benton Allen would be the one presenting this question, even though it was the police who’d made an arrest and would be the police who enforced it.

“Good to see you, Tammy,” he said as he fetched up at the bar. “Officers.” Tammy was tickled to noticed that Maggie and Jenny both nodded almost identically, perfectly in sync with one another. It seemed perfectly natural.

“Drink?” she asked.

“Maybe later. I was wondering if we could have some privacy.”

Tammy saw her daughter twitch slightly at that. She was keeping her head low, wasn’t meeting Tammy’s eye; if she didn’t know better, she’d have assumed Nikki was on drugs.

God, she thought with a sudden uncomfortable clarity, that’s not what she did, is it?

Although she’d been locked up long enough that surely she wouldn’t still be feeling the effects.

She led them into the back office, tried not to meet Benton’s eye too obviously. Clearing her throat, she leaned against the same spot on the desk where he’d taken her, feeling irrationally that this would hide any tell-tale sign she might have overlooked from her daughter. She couldn’t imagine that Nicole would approve.

“So,” Benton said, “as you can imagine, we don’t really want to make an example of your daughter.” He gave Tammy a sympathetic smile. “At the same time, our company lawyer insists that we must be able to set down that justice has been done. I’ve been… looking for an appropriate compromise.” He met Tammy’s eye. “I’m hoping I can call on you for this.”

“Of course,” she answered enthusiastically.

“Well, let’s see. Essentially I’m asking you to step into the role we discussed the other day. To take on Brand Ambassadorship for us. But with one extra stipulation.”

“Go on.”.Nicole was staring at her with something between shock and heartbreak. Tammy had steeled herself against it, though; she wasn’t the family embarrassment. Much as she hated to admit it, her daughter had easily claimed that title.

He set the briefcase down on the desk next to her and opened it. Then he took something out and passed it to Tammy, who looked at it for a moment in confusion.

“Acting Police Chief Ford has agreed to trial a new program alongside Mandatum,” he said. “Giving offenders the skills and attitude they need to make something of themselves in the legitimate world. We’d like you to give Nikki here that opportunity, working at Tammy’s. This ankle bracelet will allow us to be sure she’s not cutting corners.”

Nicole’s head had snapped into focus on Benton when he said the word ‘attitude; it now turned slowly back to Tammy. “Please, mom, no,” she began. “They’re-”

“Don’t start,” Tammy said firmly. She looked back to Benton. “All you need to get this started is for me to sign on?”

“There’s a little paperwork,” he said, “but yes. Once it’s all signed off, things will begin. Luckily she already has an M-Phone, so logging orders at work will be easy.”

“Mom,” Nicole said again. “This isn’t right. Mandatum-”

“Nicole Arabella Delaney,” Tammy said firmly, “do not start with me right now.” She stepped over to her and knelt. “Give me your foot.”

There was some hesitation; Tammy’s attention was on working the connectors for the ankle bracelet, but she couldn’t help imagining that Nicole would bolt if it wasn’t for the police. After a moment, though, Nicole offered her leg and it was locked into place.

“Right,” Benton said cheerfully. “I’m glad we’re making progress.” He shut his briefcase. “I’ll check in occasionally to see how things are going,” he said. “This is a pilot program, so I want to do everything I can to help it succeed. To help the Delaneys succeed. And if Nikki shows proper improvement in the next three months, the Principal has agreed to treat it as a work study. So she’ll be able to graduate in the fall.”

He looked at Tammy and jerked his head toward the door. She rose and followed him obediently.

“I’ve spoken to her a few times while she’d been detained,” he said softly. “I hate to say it, but part of what went wrong is that she’s constructed a narrative in her head where Mandatum are evil and out to get her, you, and everyone else in Bankhaven.

“It’s rubbish, obviously, but I thought you should know, as the person who’ll have to deal with it.”

Tammy nodded. “I appreciate that,” she said. Something about what she’d just been told had really stuck in her craw. Mandatum were so helpful.

Still, as a Brand Ambassador she’d have to help more than just her own daughter see their value.

Benton left first, and Maggie and Jenny afterwards once they’d finished their coffee. That left Tammy and her daughter in the back office alone.

“You’ll start tomorrow,” she said firmly. “No objections. No excuses. Understand?”

“I - sure, Mom.” Nicole sounded defeated, which was especially strange as they hadn’t really had an argument yet.

“In the meantime, go up to your room,” Tammy told her. “I’ll bring you some dinner up later, and you’d better not let me catch you having snuck out.

“You’ve lost your TV privileges, too,” she continued. “I moved that out of your room yesterday, when I realised how much trouble you must have gotten yourself in.”

“It wasn’t me! Mom, Mandatum are brainwashing us all.”

Tammy glowered at her. “Do you hear yourself?” she demanded. “Do you hear how ridiculous you sound?”

Nicole sagged, and something in Tammy relented, at least a little. “Alright,” she said, before opening a drawer. “You can have phone privileges, at least.” And she passed across her daughter’s M-Phone. “Now go on, get up to your room.”

Nicole stood there in silence for a long moment before running up the stairs. Tammy watched her go, then took a deep breath and put a positive face on things before heading back into the bar to work.

*

“Nicole?”

“Charlotte? Please tell me I’m talking to Charlotte, not goddamn Charlie.”

“Oh, thank God, you’re still you.” Charlie’s voice dropped to a whisper. “What happened in there? We waited and we waited for the signal to go out, and nothing happened, and then you never sent us any updates, and-”

“Right, right,” Nicole said hurriedly. “That wasn’t my fault, I was locked up, but I’m sorry as anything anyway. Have you talked to the others?”

“I haven’t dared. So what happened?”

Nicole recounted the whole sorry story, or as much of it as she could keep clear in her memory in under a minute, refusing to dwell on the manner of her capture or to go into the fear she had felt, all the way up to the agreement Benton and her mom had come to.

“Oh, fuck,” Charlotte said after a long pause. “You know he’s up to something, right?”

“Yeah, no shit. Obviously I have to know something - in fact I have to know plenty just to have been where they found me doing what I did. But he doesn’t know what or how, not yet.”

“And at the same time, we don’t know enough,” Charlotte answered. “I was trying to figure out how we could go public with this. But there’s not… there’s not enough proof, you know? We know there’s something being sent through the phones, but I don’t know how we’d prove that. Not with them being controlled remotely.”

“Right.” Nicole took a deep breath, dismayed but not yet defeated. “Listen, I’m basically under house arrest here. I can’t take another run at the system, but even if I could, they’ve got to be ready for it now, right?”

“No question. I don’t know if Bea or Miriam would be willing to try, but it doesn’t matter anyway. It wouldn’t work.”

“Right.” She sighed. “We need to figure out a next step we actually can take. And in the meantime, we need to find some way to limit our exposure. I know you haven’t wanted to risk it, but if you could talk to the others, maybe they have some ideas we could follow up on?”

“We can hope.” Charlotte was quiet for a moment. “One second.” She raised her voice. “I hear you, mom!”

Lowering her voice again she carried on. “Sorry about that. Anyway, yeah, I’ll reach out to them. It might take me a while, though. I don’t want anyone putting anything together.”

“We should be alright for that, I think,” Nicole said. “We were friendly, but we weren’t so close people will think of you first when they think of me, you know?”

“Maybe not,” Charlotte said gloomily, “but you’ve got to remember, we don’t exactly blend in around Bankhaven anymore.”

“I guess you have a point there.” Nicole was subdued. “But let’s keep not fitting in, as best we can.

“I have to assume they’re going to keep working on us both. And I have to assume something went wrong with Li - with Olivia, when they pulled her in.”

“How do you mean?”

“I was locked up for, what, five days? That’s longer than Olivia vanished for.” Nicole was still annoyed with herself by how easily she’d slipped, how tempting her tongue found it to refer to the woman as Liv.

Whatever Mandatum had done to them all, it still had an impact even though they knew about it. She hated that.

“Sure,” Charlotte agreed, then raised her voice again. “In a minute, mom!”

“Is she always like that?” Nicole asked.

“She’s been getting worse lately,” Charlotte said absently. “So okay, they had you a long time.”

“Right. So if they could just do the same thing to me they did to Liv, they would have done. So I think maybe it went wrong.” Nicole’s tone took on a sudden urgency. “Right. Actually I need you to do two things. Talk to the others and see if they have any good ideas to beat this brainwashing. I think Benton’s going to be round here a lot, I’m going to see if he says anything that gives me a clue how to break this.”

“Do you think he knows?”

“No idea. I just think it’s worth checking.”

“Just a friend!” Charlotte shouted on the other end of the line. “Sorry,” she continued in a more normal volume. “Okay. What’s the other thing you want me to do?”

“It’s going to be hard. But ask Miriam to keep an eye on her mom. If they’ve overdone it somehow, that might mean she’ll be evidence down the line, and we can use that.”

“Yeah, that’s going to be hard,” Charlotte said doubtfully. “But it’s an idea, and we don’t have many.”

Nicole felt obscurely like she was being criticised. “No,” she agreed. “Sorry. I blew it, I know.”

“Oh, no, don’t think like that!” Charlotte assured her. “We had to try, and we knew it was a risk.” A risk, of course, that only Nicole had actually carried; still, even as the thought occurred to her she knew it was unfair.

“Oh, for-” Charlotte continued. “COMING, MOM! Look, I gotta go, call me tomorrow okay?”

“Will do,” Nicole agreed grudgingly. “Go on. Good luck with whatever’s got her so stirred up.”

“Bye now.” Charlotte rang off. Nicole sat there for a few moments, eyes closed. The conversation had frustrated her more than she’d expected. It was unfair to blame Charlotte for that, but it still hurt to feel she’d let them down.

She resolved not to use the phone any more that evening, not now they knew what the phones did. Unfortunately, boredom set in an hour later, and by the time Tammy brought her up a plate of food (along with a milkshake - apparently Mandatum had installed a proper milkshake blender while Nicole had been locked up, and Tammy was experimenting with things like Kahlua-and-chocolate shakes) she was scrolling absently through reddit threads.

Tammy lingered after dropping off the food, hovering on the edge of the room watching her. After a while she sighed and seated herself on the edge of the bed next to her daughter. “Alright,” she said, “Now, we both know the score for tomorrow. Right?”

Nicole didn’t want to meet her eyes. She mumbled a response, hoping her mother wouldn’t ask her to repeat it.

“You start work tomorrow. And starting tomorrow, for the next three months, I’m your boss, not your mom. I’m going to make sure that by the time Benton comes by for a review, he’ll be satisfied with what you have to offer.” Nicole’s eyes flickered up to try and read her mother’s face, but Tammy didn’t seem to register that what she’d said could be interpreted in more ways than one.

“I don’t know what you did, exactly,” Tammy continued, “and I don’t know why you did it. But I do think we can do better for you. Together.”

“Like Vanessa Carter?” Nicole retorted bitterly.

“Nessa Carter is a shining example of what good parenting can do for a girl,” Tammy said, almost scolding her. “I’d think myself lucky if I had a daughter like Nessa Carter. But apparently what I have is a screw-up.”

Her mom was clenching her fists and releasing them, and she stood up abruptly. “Here,” she said, digging in the pocket of jeans so tight they almost seemed painted on. “Look at this.”

With the kind of speed that told Nicole she already knew exactly where to look, she called up a video ad on her phone and flipped the screen to show it to Nicole.

On screen, Janet and Vanessa Carter were dressed in revealing, near-matching outfits in Mandatum blue. Nicole felt a stillness settle over her as she gazed up into it, a strange peace and calm.

The MaxiMart Fashion family were working as a unit, carrying out tasks around the store, but the way they moved straddled a line between professionalism and a suppressed eroticism, a line she hadn’t realised existed; the very real idea that either one of them could help you find the perfect outfit or bring you to new heights of pleasure, whichever you required.

Her mouth was dry and she was staring. “Do you understand?” Tammy asked. “I want that. I’ve always wanted that. I want that for us.” Her voice was vibrating with passion. “The Carters are a proper family. Working together. And they both know how to sell.”

The words seemed to echo around Nicole’s head. She continued to stare dully at the video. “This is what we need to be,” Tammy pressed on. “This is what you should aspire to be. This is what you should dream of.”

She shut off the phone, inhaling audibly as always had when Nicole had provoked her in a way she hadn’t been ready for. “Right,” she said. “Enough of that. I’ve got work to do. You, get some sleep. Tomorrow we both start early. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Nicole said, her voice barely audible, and yet forming the word utterly perfectly. In normal conversation, both of them softened the edges of their words; in the mental state the app could place her in, there were none of these shortcuts, none of the impulse to take them, and so the word was sounded quite precisely.

“Well.” Tammy found herself abruptly deflated by her daughter’s lack of resistance. “Eat your dinner and make sure you get a good night’s sleep.” And with that, she left.

Nicole ate her dinner and got wordlessly into bed, even though it was early. As soon as her head touched the pillow, she was asleep.

And not long afterward, she began to dream.

In the dream, Tammy’s had expanded. As well as having a larger internal space, its parking lot had become part of a drive-thru complex. While Tammy satisfied customers in the bar, Nicole made her way between cars on rollerblades, a tray on one hand to deliver their drinks and food.

For reasons she would never quite winkle out of her subconscious, the lasting image that remained with her from the dream was the outfit she and her mother both wore, a lederhosen set in Mandatum blue over crisp, if sheer, white blouses.