Bailey Flanigan
3 Dec 2020
Midnight Thief
There is a small ball at the governor's mansion tonight and Lucinda is going as a princess figure. Her family has a background of being master thieves, dating back to the French Revolution to today; however, she was the only one that is not interested in the family business and yet they drag her in some missions because they needed a helping hand. She does not want to be a thief, but her family has already chosen her own path.
They have been invited to this party because their other family business is running a family-run pizza parlor at the heart of the town of Roselake, Georgia. When the early elections came around, their pizza parlor was one of the places that Governor Rufus Lawrence was promoting his campaign and grew a connection with her stepfather Reginald and then promoted Reginald to be his campaign manager.
Now, there is going to be a ball tonight for the governor's election win. The family is only going for the governor's ball because there are important documents that link them to certain thefts over the years. This ball is their chance to get their hidden records and destroy them for good. They formulated a plan on how the night was going to go down: One of the children would be with the crowd while the other two would find the office and retrieve the documents. Reginald's children, Andrew, and Melanie, argue with each other that it should be one of them because they do not want to do the hard work. However, Reginald decides that Lucinda should be the one to blend in the crowd because of her charms and doe eyes that makes everyone she meets instantly love her.
Lucinda, or Cindi as her family calls her, knows that she had to blend in with the other elite debutantes. He calls a family friend for help; she is what people would call a 'master of disguises'. Felicity Gallagher has known the family for the longest time and has been involved with some of their thefts with costumes and makeup. Cindi looks up to Felicity as a fairy godmother who helps out with her problems.
Felicity arrives at the house thirty minutes after Reginald called her. "Glad you can make it on time," Reginald comments as he donned his mascot. "If you are referring to the time at Van Peters' party, it was one time." She walks into the kitchen and prepares her station. Cindi, Andrew, and Melanie walk into the living room and do not say a word until Reginald motions them forward.
"Alrighty. Cindi, darling, sit down here and don't move a muscle," Felicity orders as she prepares the straighter. Cindi walks into the kitchen and sits down on the chair. "Andy, Mel. Go get ready. We leave in 15 minutes," Reginald said. Andy and Melanie leave the room and Felicity sits in front of Cindi for makeup. She grabs the blush brush, applies blush to it, and gently strokes Cindi's cheek.
*****
The party was in full swing when they arrived. Cindi gets out of the car and smooths out her dress that Felicity picked out for her. It was her mother's dress when she was Cindi's age; the dress is a vintage a-line cap sleeves satin tea length sky blue colored dress with silver sparkling high-heels, silver bracelet and earrings, and silver clutch. Her hair is pulled back in a low love knot bun. Cindi feels like a princess arriving at a ball in a pumpkin carriage. Only she is not a princess; she is a thief disguised as an elite socialite so that her family can steal documents that can put them in jail forever.
Reginald holds up his invitation to the harbinger at the front door and they enter the large mansion. The harbinger clears his throat before announcing to us, "Reginald Harper and family." Cindi observes her surroundings and the people within it. This is not her scene at all; she would rather stay home, and binge watch shows on Netflix than go out and party all night.
"Reggie!" A booming voice rings over the living room. Governor Lawrence struts across the room and up to Reginald. "Hey, Rufus. How are you? Congratulations on the election, man." Reggie raises his hand and Rufus shakes his hand thoroughly. "Thanks to you, man," Rufus hits his shoulder playfully. He finally notices the children, "Oh yes. You brought your children. Wonderful," Rufus looks at them, eyeing their outfits. "Yes. Well, Andrew and Melanie here are my children. Lucinda here is my stepdaughter." He puts an arm around Cindi's shoulders. "I see. Well, she's still your family." Rufus said.
