ALICE Ch 113

The sun beats down on the glass towers and drooping palms of beautiful Miami. An unusual number of white boats crowd every marina for the upcoming Grand Prix and the city is in an uproar.

Ariana Grande's music blares through massive speakers around the outdoor stage where Alice waves to a considerable crowd, at least half of whom wear pink FUTA gear. Florida is the home of the original FUTA site, after all. These days, FUTA Soccer travels much like F1, but they still play frequently in Tampa, Miami, and Orlando. Progressive Floridians have latched onto FUTA, much to the chagrin of the governor and state legislature, who can’t do anything about it because the growing FUTA tax revenue is important and they don’t want to repeat the mistakes that they made with Disney.

Danica Patrick welcomes Alice, handing her a microphone.

“Alice Wilde, welcome to Miami!”

“Hi, Danica.” Embarrassed, Alice waves at her, then at the crowd again. “Thank you. Um, I’ve been here before.”

“Of course! You’re from Gurlberg, isn’t that right?”

They take their seats on the stage and the crowd settles a little. Alice is bathed in harsh lights despite the sun and there are at least six cameras pointed at her. She’s sweating in her little pink and white polo and visor. She wishes that she could put her sunglasses on, but it’s not allowed.

“That’s right.”

“Valeria Flores as well,” Danica adds slyly.

Smiling, Alice nods.

“How does it feel to be on your home turf?”

“Uh…” Alice frowns, looking around. “I don’t know. When you’re in another country and kind of bottled up at the hotel or in the paddock most of the time, it’s easier to stay focused on the race. I think I’ll have to work a little harder to focus here, but American F1 fans are eating good, right? There’s me, Val, and Patty all here. That’s a lot of Americans!”

“Can’t argue with that. After Baku, how are you feeling going into a new race?”

Alice laughs. “Tense. Like always. But, um, as long as Kevin doesn’t kill me in the first lap, we’ll be OK.”

“Alice, I’m dying to chat with you about the race, but of course, we’re also here to reveal your new promo in partnership with Diorgasm. Which I’m wearing,” Danica adds with an ironic bat of her eyelashes.

“You smell literally so good,” Alice assures her.

“Thank you. So!” Danica turns on her stool and gestures grandly. The giant screen behind them lights up with a clear, high-contrast, grayscale photograph. Alice has just picked up the bottle of water on the little table that’s intended for her. It slips from her fingers and bounces across the stage, beginning to roll.

Danica turns bright red and the crowd is silent.

“Oh. My,” Danica says.