Chapter 6 Then to Reach Shore.

One thing in my favour during this period was the remnants of my hyperactivity. It now showed up as me being a workaholic. This became evident to the Sea Queen organisers and, in January, I was asked if I would like to sit on the committee for the next event.

One of the important parts of this committee was to go around the city and get sponsors as nothing happens without a cash flow. As the summer drew to a close the HR manager took me aside and told me that I was to continue my work in the hotel as it had created an atmosphere of friendliness that the guests liked and the various managers absolutely loved. Most of the time I was able to divert anger into normal conversation by not being the person responsible but by being the person who could get things fixed.

We had fewer guests in the off season but often they were people who did not like crowds and they seemed to gravitate towards me as being non-confrontational. Bianca and I did have several trips during the winter period, appearing at holiday shows around the country to push for more tourists come the next season. The brochures were given out with abandon and the calendar sold well. We often had to stand with the buyer while he held it up in front of him, no doubt to prove that he had met the girls that graced its pages.

During the winter I was given the task to cement the deals with old sponsors and to find new ones. This took me to just about every business in town and I met just about everyone who counted, sometimes taking the person to dinner to finalise an agreement but also sometimes being taken to dinner myself to further a friendship. It was seen as a good thing to be seen out to dinner with the Queen or one of the Princesses and I was never one to knock back a free meal. Bianca met her future husband this way, a very handsome, older businessman who had a chain of fashion shops in this, and other cities. I guess she may have been seen as arm candy by many but I could tell it was the real thing.

Melina was away at university for much of this time and when we saw her she was changing from the fun-loving teen into a seriously good student. Their other pal, who had fallen off her heels, had proved that the event was no unusual occasion as she dropped out of university and ended up as a full-blown addict. It was a good job things happened the way they did.

In the course of my quest to find new sponsors I made an appointment to see the marketing manager of PCBox, a local company that made computers, tablets and smart phones. I had the idea that if you screen printed the back cover of a smart phone with pictures of Mar del Plata they may sell well to the tourists. What I had not counted on was that when I was introduced to him I fell hopelessly in love.

Over the course of a few meetings Alejandro decided to take the idea to his father, the owner of the company, and when the father agreed to give it a trial, he took me out for dinner. I played hard to get for several weeks before I plucked up my courage to relieve him orally and after that he started talking about marriage. I told him a little white lie in that I was all girl, except in one way; I had been born without a vagina and had never missed it until now. He took it in his stride and the following week gave me the contact details of the best surgeon in Buenos Aires so that I could make an appointment.

In the meantime the committee was powering forward for the next Fiesta. One day the chairman took me aside and told me that he had been approached by one of the other big hotels to see if they could have one of their girls as a Princess. They had noted the changes that had been made at the Gran Hotel Provincial and was sure that they could do the same. I took this to my own HR manager and we set up a meeting with my hotel manager, the manager of the other hotel and the committee chairman. It looked like a get-together of some old friends but it was to change the outcome of the Fiesta for some time to come.

The meeting was cordial but serious and the result was ideal for me. The two hotels agreed that they could both do with a Princess of their own to smooth things with the customers and a sponsorship figure was put forward and accepted. I was given the task of finding two girls who would fit the mould. They both would need to be good looking enough as well as bright and personable. I suggested we look at university leavers who would have enough ability to take on the job but would also be old enough to look after any crazy child Queen that was chosen.

We put up notices on the university notice board as well as on their web site. We said we wanted suitable girls to work in public relations in a high pressure environment. We weeded out most of the applicants by looks alone until we were down to four who looked good enough to work. We had a couple of recruitment guys do the actual interviews with me looking on, acting as a steno in a wig and plain glasses. When we had the two we wanted we called them in for a final interview. One we brought to our hotel and the public relations job was described as being to replace myself as being the person who would be leaving. When the girl was told that one of the facets of the job was to be an entrant in the Fiesta beauty contest she was almost overcome that we would think that she stood a chance.

She agreed to take on the job and I would be training her. The other girl was interviewed at the other hotel and agreed to start with them. They decided that they would do their own training. I expected that this system would remain in place for some years, other hotels coming on board to supply Princesses while the retiring ones just continued doing PR until they left to do something else. It was amazing with the contacts you could make being in such a public position. It would also be something I could monitor on the committee.

The Queen was already on the list. She was the daughter of a friend of a committee member. She was bright and very pretty and just finding her ability to influence men to her own advantage. I was happy that someone else would be looking after her and doubly glad that both Princesses would be full time.

So we got closer to the next summer season. I still wore my light blue Princess dresses at the hotel and the new girl, Ivana, was given light red ones. Together we smoothed things over and she got the methods I used and copied me. In a month she was able to handle things herself and, although I still lived in the hotel, I spent much of my time with the Fiesta organisation. Other times I spent with Alejandro, either in good restaurants or, sometimes, at the factory where my ‘guy’ past experienced allowed me to pick up much of what they were doing. He told me that, although he had always thought that his wife would stay at home; my marketing and PR experience would be better used in working with him. I already had one win as the Telefone Inteligente del Plata range was already selling well locally and we had not even tapped the tourist market yet.

We had advertised for entrants in the beauty competition and had finally picked seven sacrificial lambs, all of who would be ideal Queens or Princesses. The day finally came around when I wore my uniform for the last time. I could, by now, afford to buy some outfits of my own and it was even better that Bianca had made an arrangement with her fiancé to give us Princesses a big discount in his stores.

The weekend of the Fiesta was the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication of all the committee. It was to be that last time for a few and we had some feelers out for new blood. The stages were set, the stalls were erected; the floats were cleaned and repainted. It was a great day for me that Friday evening at the opening social. I was attending with my own fiancé, Bianca with hers and Melina with a very dishy boyfriend from the university. The ten entrants were there, all dressed like stars and having a wonderful, if a little frightening, time. Ivana was being led around by the hotel manager and she gave me a little wave as she passed by.

The Saturday parade went well, us retiring Princesses going straight to the beach to mingle with the holiday makers, me to check out the stalls. I was greeted very well at all of them, having organised most to be there. They all reported good sales, even at this early stage. The PCBox stall was doing quite well, although the phones were being sold in large numbers already in the various hotel shops and this would just be icing on the cake. Alejandro caught up with me and we strolled in the sunshine and stopping in the shade sometimes for a kiss.

Eventually the system worked itself through and the expected new Queen and her new Princesses were selected. Bianca made a small speech saying what a wonderful year she had been through and that, strangely enough, was the last we saw of her. Her fiancé spirited her away to his big spread on the Pampas to prepare her for her marriage and the only time I heard of her after that was if I read the gossip columns or saw pictures of her at some gala or whatever. She did give him a couple of sons to carry on the family business so I suppose that all ended well.

I left the hotel to live in an apartment that my fiancé owned and the hotel gave me a going away party. Once I was able to I got myself an appointment with the surgeon in Buenos Aires and told him some of how I looked like a girl but still had some boy bits. He did keep the secret and ended up giving me the most magnificent present any girl could have. Two months later I loaned it to my husband to use and we both enjoyed it immensely.

We now live in a grand house near the ocean and I still work on the committee, taking over from the chairman a couple of years later. We have moved the company towards compatibility with streaming services and are doing very well. Alejandro, not being the eldest, is not likely to take over the business, but we live well and happily. I am able to dress well, live well and certainly love well. I had reached the shore; it may not the one I started out for; but is a wonderful one for all that.

Marianne G © 2021