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Time Lady of L.A. #11: Pages 17-18

Page 17, 7 Panels- Hotel Cairo Lobby, 1985 Cairo Egypt

Panel 1-2: A two-part set of panels centered on a rear shot of our two human heroines as they approach the hotel's front desk. We see the worker there at that moment in Panel 1, a skinny man with a goatee, looking over at a wall of keys when they approach. In Panel 2, as he hears Giana ringing the courtesy bell, the man turns around and flashes the young ladies a smile.

Panel 3: Close-up on the front desk person a second later. The man places his right hand down on the counter and leans his head forward a small distance toward Giana and Amanda in a standard customer service-y fashion.

FRONT DESK ATTENDANT [to Giana and Amanda]: Marhaba...kayf yumikinuni musaeadatak?

Panel 4-5: A two-part set of panels back on the other end of the desk with Giana and Amanda. In Panel 4, we see Giana with her mouth agape frozen, trying to come up with something to speak in the moment. In Panel 5, she looks down toward the desk's countertop in a bit of a contemplative stalling tactic. Amanda all the while watching her friend with some concern as the words struggling to come out of her mouth.

GIANA [unsure; Panel 4]: Ummm... GIANA [Cont.; Panel 5]: Nahn...nahn na--nakunu... GIANA [Panel 5, Bubble 2; under her breath]: Dammit! FRONT DESK ATTENDANT [Off-Panel; Panel 5]: Hahaha...

Panel 6: Back to the front desk attendant as his fit of chuckling reaches its apex. His hand lifts off the countertop gently as he speaks. His chest puffs out slightly in comparison to Panel 3. The wide smile that he had in the first entrance has faded slightly to a straight grin.

FRONT DESK ATTENDANT [in accented English]: You are American? My apology...

Panel 7: Same setting/layout as the previous panel. The Attendant, a few seconds later, straightens his body out slightly. His feet underneath the desk shuffling as he speaks in a serious business-like tone to the two young ladies.

FRONT DESK ATTENDANT [Cont., to Giana and Amanda]: What can I...do for you?

Page 18, 6 Panels- Hotel Cairo Lobby, 1985 Cairo Egypt

Panel 1: We cut back to Giana a second later. She takes a single step forward toward the edge of the desk, which appears in the bottom of the panel view. Her hoverboard moving up the same distance. Its bottom just gently scraping on the carpeted area as she walks. A small smattering of furniture that comes with the waiting area in front of the front desk can be seen in the background.

GIANA [unsure, thinking on the fly; to Front Desk Attendant]: We were going through the...Yellow Pages, and we noticed in your ad that it said your hotel is open to taking in foreigners.

Panel 2: Back to the Front Desk Attendant a moment later. He scratches the back of his head with his right hand in thought. A look of confusion firmly planted on his face as he looks at the counter, trying to figure out if there was truth behind it all.

FRONT DESK ATTENDANT: It did?

Panel 3-4: Cut to Amanda in Panel 3, glancing over in Giana's direction as she's been speaking. She starts to see where her friend is looking to steer the conversation toward and decides to jump onboard. In Panel 4, we see her take a single step toward the front of the desk while holding her hoverboard (the same general action we saw coming from Giana at the beginning of the page).

AMANDA [Panel 3]: Yeah... AMANDA [Cont., with a shrug; Panel 4]: Maybe it was just something from the Embassy translation.

Panel 5-6: Back to the Attendant in a two-part set of panels. In Panel 5, he pauses for a moment and sizes up the two ladies for a moment. His hand dropping back down to his side. In Panel 6, a few beats later, the young man shifts back to the tone befitting a person in his position. His previous suspicions alleviated, at least somewhat, by the answer given.

FRONT DESK ATTENDANT [suspicious; Panel 5]: Right... FRONT DESK ATTENDANT [Cont., with a grin looking at the two boards the ladies are holding; Panel 6]: So, are you ladies planning to do some surfing?

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