Shakedown at the Brazilian Room

Lina really didn’t want to get onto this subject again now, but Louis had taken off up into the hills again and she had to follow. Said the weather was perfect for another shakedown. The plan was to practice an emergency landing in the parking lot of the Brazilian Room in the regional park district not far from her desk in 1971. The evening fog had become so thick that this was apparently a perfect opportunity to practice landing with 0 visibility.
They had to fly low, following their noses as they hung out along Wildcat Canyon Road, breathing the fragrance of the Eucalyptus and Bay Laurel to stay on track. Suddenly, headlights appeared, turning down onto what appeared to be a modern hacienda, an old colonial gem where there was evidently a party on the go.
While Lina had been invited to Monique’s birthday party, Monique hardly expected her to fly halfway around the earth to be there tonight. Nor did Lina for that matter. And since only Lina and Monique had any personal associations with Louis, they were both surprised and perhaps even a bit disappointed that Lina had actually showed up. Suppose no one likes to be reminded of the past when they’re in the future. Rubble vs. bubble syndrome, East vs. West. Berlin Wall.
Unprepared as she was, Lina happened to have what she hoped would be a very personal and dear gift for Monique in her Sierra Club backback - an etching of a famous battle that took place during the Enlightenment in Paris - which she left at the entrance to the Brazilian Room. Monique probably thought it was just a card, since it was a flat piece of paper in a brown envelope, no heavy box or glittery paper. Why else, when she had read the dedication on the back, would she throw an antique into the wastepaper basket beside the gift table?
The party was just getting started. A quick look around and Lina could see that most of the guests, apart from a couple of relatives, were unfamiliar. And so she took a seat at one of the round tables with covers for twelve, where she had no professional or other affiliation with the others, all of whom turned out to be members of APA. Conversation centered on Monique’s relationship with her husband Bill. Lina mostly listened, since she didn’t really know much about him. They said they didn’t know him very well either, but that Monique was depressed and had confided that he was the reason. They related browraising stories about Bill. Since Lina was the only one at the party who had known Monique back in Paris, before she met Bill, they were curious to hear Lina tell them how she met Monique. Lina didn’t tell them that Monique had been depressed then too, but stories about their safaris together.
Then suddenly the band tuned up and Monique came and sat down at their table trying to get people to dance. Since no one was game, she changed the subject. Lina saw her mother in a long white dress with gold brocade, and a lemon meringue pie hairdo, clearly enjoying the dance floor. The party broke up fairly early, and a couple of APA members thanked Lina for telling them about the safaris to Norway and Spain.