parasol

A rice-paper parasol swung in her hand.

“The Diamond Jubilee and the Queen riding out in the royal landau under a black lace parasol. And with her daughters: the Princess Helena, the Princess Louise, the Princess Beatrice! How the flags will snap! How the bands will play! How the crowds will cheer as all the world watches!”

Roaming among the trees, admiring the verdure, he saw a crowd of daisies clustered above him, like gigantic stars, and decided to cut one down and present his wife with a pretty parasol.

The classic example is the “Eloise” books, where a 6-year-old girl lives at the Plaza Hotel and drinks Champagne and gin, wears furs, eats meringue glacée and watches TV with a parasol “in case there’s some sort of glare.”

A giant parasol in outer space?