(A knock at the door summons Shane. She approaches and opens it slowly. Julie and Lily are standing there. Shane takes in the sight of the striking maestro and Julie. Shane looks at Julie for several seconds.)

LILY- “Hello. You are?”

SHANE- (Distracted, she finally looks at Lily…) “Hi, hi…I’m Shane.”

LILY- “Hello Shane. I’m Lily. This is Julie. We’re friends of Bette’s. She’s expecting us. Well, expecting me at least.”

SHANE- “It’s nice to meet you. Come in.” (She directs them in and they move to the living room.) “I have to explain. Have a seat.” (Lily and Julie glimpse at the inside of Bette’s house as they take their seats.) “Shortly after you called, Alice, that’s one of our friends, called from the hospital to let us know that Angelica’s fever has gotten worse. Angelica is Bette’s daughter.”

LILY- “Yes, we know.” (Shane looks at her and pauses for a moment.)

SHANE- “Right. Well, Kit, Bette’s sister, drove with Bette to the hospital. So, all I can say is that perhaps you guys can wait here for a bit. I’m waiting to hear from Kit. I understand that Bette only knows that Lily…” (She motions to Lily…) “is here but not yourself.” (She looks at Julie. Julie nods.) “Julie, I’m very sorry for your loss.”

JULIE- “Thank you Shane.” (She smiles mildly and looks away and again at Shane.) “I guess we’ll wait for a bit, but maybe we should just go to the hospital.”

LILY- “I don’t think that’s a good idea Julie, under the circumstances.”

SHANE- “Our friends are there offering support, so she’ll be ok, but she’s pretty focused on Angelica right now.”

JULIE- “How is the little girl?”

SHANE- “They said her fever went up again. The doctors haven’t figured out what’s causing it.”

LILY- “No surprise there.” (Shane looks at her and Julie then turns to her.) “Sorry, I just…it’s difficult when you’re friends and family and getting information from the doctors and there’s no…it’s…it’s difficult.”

SHANE- “You guys are pretty amazing to come all the way out here in a very difficult time for you to see Bette. This is going to hit her hard I think. Tina is with…I…I mean…anyway…see Tina is…”

JULIE- “Angelica’s mother, Bette’s former partner.”
SHANE- “Right, yeah.” (Shane looks at Julie and seems to look at every part of her face.)

JULIE- “They worked together, my Miranda and Bette. We had all become good friends, albeit in a short period of time.”

SHANE- “Yeah, she briefly told us about you all.” (Shane keeps staring at Julie and Lily is noticing this more and more.) “Can I get you guys anything at all? We have some fresh herbal tea…”

JULIE- “Yes please, Shane…would you?”

SHANE- “My pleasure. What kind?”

JULIE- “Cammomile please, if you have it.”

SHANE- “Coming right up.” (Shane gets up and starts heading to the kitchen. She stops and doubles back…) “Sorry…uh…Lily…can I get you anything?”

LILY- “Quite alright. No thanks.” (Shane goes off and Lily looks at Julie.) “Odd this Shane. But apart from being dazed by you, she’s seems nice enough. Strange in an interesting sort of way.”

JULIE- “Lily…I just remembered…”

LILY- “What?”

JULIE- (Julie gets up and walks over to a wall unit at which she had been glancing. She focuses on a photograph sitting on a shelf towards the top level. She takes it slowly, looks at it, smiles and brings it to Lily. She sits down.) “That’s ‘Tina’.”

LILY- “She’s…”

JULIE- “My spitting image? Remember? You’re the one who met her…I found out that night we all went out. Remember? You told me about her.”

LILY- “Yes yes…sorry Julie, I just totally forgot. Getting old…too many swipes of the conductor’s baton…affects the brain’s neuron activity…”

JULIE- “She’s pretty.”

LILY- “She certainly is.” (Julie looks at Lily who in turn smiles and looks at the picture. Shane returns with the tea and notices Julie is holding the picture.)

SHANE- “That’s Tina.”

JULIE- “Yes, somehow I was able to pick her out.” (Shane smiles but isn’t sure what to say.) “It’s ok Shane…we knew about the resemblance. Lily here had met Tina many years ago at a gallery event where she met Bette briefly.”

SHANE- “Ohhhh. Ok. Wow, so you guys had already met?”

LILY- “Yes, but it was brief and years ago. At the time, while Bette was busy at this reception, Tina was very kind to me. She saw I was alone and kept me chatting until my friend arrived. She was very nice.”

SHANE- “She sure is.”

JULIE- “And really very pretty…”

SHANE- “Yes, beautiful.” (Shane blushes as she catches herself a little too late.)


(After telling Kit she’d take care of things, Tina stands at the doorway watching Bette. She felt odd. She felt too many things all at once…like having a nervous breakdown, like running over to Bette and tackling her, like just collapsing…totally conflicting emotions. It made no sense to her, though right now not much did. Bette stood from her chair and turned around slowly.)

BETTE- “Nothing’s changed.”

TINA- “What do you mean?”

BETTE- (Looking a little confused by the reaction…) “Angelica…she’s the same.”

TINA- (She walks over, next to Bette and places her hand on the child’s leg.) “I hope this Dr. Sushee can do something. This is like some sort of marathon.”

BETTE- “She’s going to be fine. Everything is going to be ok.”

TINA- “Or not.” (They were standing in close proximity. Tina felt like she wanted to fall into Bette.)

BETTE- “Tina,” (She slowly puts her hands on Tina’s arms…) “let’s just focus on what we know. She’s not worse, had a bit of a setback with the fever, but things seem stable…such as they are.” (She starts to look flustered.) “I was just thinking how life can change so quickly. I don’t want to waste time worrying about things I can’t change or fearing things that might happen or…”

TINA- “Bette…”

BETTE- “What?”

TINA- “It’s ok.”

BETTE- (She looks at her with a blank stare…) “I…I was just…”

TINA- “Let go…” (She smiles at her…) “Bette…it’s ok…let go.”

BETTE- “What?”

TINA- “Let go…” (She motions to Bette’s hands…) “Bette…your hands…let go…” (She releases her slowly and looks confused.)

BETTE- “I’m sorry I didn’t…”

TINA- “No…it’s fine. But listen to me. You need to leave.” (She raises her hands to Bette’s shoulders.)

BETTE- (Shaking her head in some disbelief…) “Why? I don’t understand…”

TINA- “I want you to go.” (She looks at her in the eyes…) “I think you should go home and get some rest. Please, just go. You can come back in the morning. This is too much. You can’t go without sleep again, not after all you’ve been through. If anything changes, we’ll call you.”

BETTE- “I can’t leave now.”

TINA- “Bette, please…” (The door opens and the nurse comes in with equipment and moves in towards Angelica.)

NURSE- “Dr. Sushee has given instructions on treatment for this evening. I’m going to give her more intervenes medication. So, just give me a little bit of room here and I’ll set it up. I just have to switch the bags there.” (The two mothers step aside and the nurse does her work.) “This should do the trick. Dr. Sushee wanted me to tell you that he’ll be by to see you. He got the results of the latest blood count and other tests. He said the levels are stabilizing.”

TINA- “But the fever went up.”

NURSE- “Yes, and he just got some of the test results. He’s confident that the fever will subside with this medication. That’s all I can tell you.” (She leaves.)

BETTE- (Facing the door after watching the nurse leave…) “I hope that means they’ve figured it out.”

TINA- (Standing behind her…) “I would think she would have told us something.”

BETTE- (Still facing the door…) “He probably didn’t give her details.” (Tina walks up behind Bette and puts her hand on her left shoulder. Better turns.)

TINA- (Tina’s hand stays on Bette’s shoulder and she squeezes a bit and pushes her mildly forward and back…) “Looks like you were right. At least, I hope that’s what he’s going to tell us…that she’s going to be ok.” (Bette nods. The door opens.)

DR. SUSHEE- “Ladies…good eeeevening.” (They say hello and he walks over to Angelica.) “Ah ha…hmmm.” (Looking at the mothers…) “You know, some on my team say to me… ‘Dr. Sushee, she has lupus. That was the intern…wrong disease, wrong age group…what they teach them these days? Anyway, some say, ‘Dr. Sushee, she has anemia,’ some say leukemia maybe, some say Sickle cell disease…oh, it doesn’t matter. Anyway, I think this medication will work. Very tricky.”

BETTE- “So Doctor…what’s wrong with her?”

DR. SUSHEE- “I don’t know. But…” (He stops and moves to look at Angelica.) “You see…the last dose affected things. Her fever went up. This medication, if I am right, will lower it. Basically, I think she is almost out of the woods.”

BETTE- “Almost?”

TINA- “But you still don’t know what’s wrong?”

DR. SUSHEE- “Tomorrow we will have better idea. It’s almost certain not malignant or chronic issue for sure. You see, with a blood symptom like this you have to be concerned about whether it’s primary or secondary. Blood infection too is mysterious. But we are almost certain it is not a serious secondary, as we have put her through ringer of tests for every childhood disease of concern. Tomorrow we’ll know more. Let me just take temperature now.” (He checks.) “Ahhhh, you see? Down. This would be opposite reaction to this particular treatment if she had one of the bad conditions. Ladies, I will go now and leave you to rest. See you tomorrow. Please…rest.” (He pats both of them on their arms. They thank him and he leaves. They stand there for several silent moments.)

TINA- “Bette…”

BETTE- “Yes?”

TINA- “I just want to take her home.”

BETTE- “Soon, you will. It sounds like she’s finding her way through this.”

TINA- “Bette…”

BETTE- “What? What’s wrong?” (Tina looks at her.)

TINA- “I…I don’t know what to say to you. I don’t know what to say to you…at all.”

BETTE- “It’s ok, neither do I.”

TINA- (She only then turns to look at her…) “I feel we’re in a totally different place in our lives together…or apart I guess…I don’t know. It’s like I don’t know what month it is, what day it is, what happened last before Angelica got sick, or what’s next…” (She looks away again…) “It’s like I’ve derailed or something.”

BETTE- “I’m not faring much better, except I know exactly what happened last…well, at least one very important thing…on the plane and then after. I felt such fear, not just of death, but fear of losing…” (She stumbles emotionally and verbally…) “…and then living…and ironically fearing having lost everything for good…”

TINA- “When I heard about the plane …it was just like…like my life exploded all over the place. With the way things were and then Angelica sick I had come to a point of feeling nothing and then…just an undoing…I realized I hadn’t quite reached rock bottom because the bottom then fell out from under me. It was like I was just hanging on to feeling nothing…and almost like it was about to give way to feeling far too much all at once. And now…well, I don’t know…I’m feeling so many different things.” (She looks at Bette, who looks sensitively at her former life partner in return. Tina changes her tone suddenly after remember she had to get Bette to leave.) “Listen, I was serious before. I want you to go home and get some sleep. I’m actually going to ask Kit or Alice to stay with Angelica while I go home for a bit, and get back here. Why don’t we leave together?”

BETTE- “I…oh no…”

TINA- “What?”

BETTE- “One of my friends from New York is here. She’s probably at the house now. She’s my colleague’s sister and friends with Miranda and her partner Julie. Miranda is the one I was with on the plane. Actually, you met Lily…a long time ago, at the gallery. It feels like it was eons ago now. We were having an opening reception and Lily was one of the guests. Apparently I was busy doing hosting duties and she met you when you walked over to keep her company…make her feel welcome…she was alone.”

TINA- “Small world.”

BETTE- “She’s great. You’d like her I think. She’s quite a character. A conductor.” (Bette is smiling.)

TINA- “You’ve made some good friends out there.”

BETTE- “Yeah, yes I have. They’ve been wonderful to me. I feel like I’ve known them for years.” (Tina walks over to Angelica.) “Maybe I’ll just call and get her to come over here…I want her to meet Angelica too. I wish Julie and Miranda could meet her. Julie is great. She’s such a stabilizing force among the whole group it seems. They’ve known each other for years and Julie seems like the voice of reason among them. She’s wonderful and kind, and she was so sweet to me even when I was being…well, she’s great.”

TINA- (She turns to her…) “Bette…just go home…it’s ok.”

(Back at the house, Shane was doing her best and the three had managed to chat for a while.)

LILY- “So Shane, what is it you do?”

SHANE- “Hair stylist. How about you?”

LILY- “I work with a symphony.”

SHANE- “Oh, the New York…”

LILY- “Yes.”

SHANE- “What instrument?”

LILY- “They won’t let me play one…I’ve been banned, in particular, from the string section…” (Julie frowns at her…)

JULIE- “Lily is being silly. Shane, she’s the conductor.”

SHANE- “Wow. Well, Maestro then I guess?”

LILY- “Yes ma’am.”

SHANE- “So you don’t play so well?”

LILY- “Hmmm?”

SHANE- “The ban…” (Shane smiles.)

LILY- “I love string instruments and…”

JULIE- “Lily…”

LILY- “Yes, well…I was so bad though that they made me conductor to get me to stop playing.”

SHANE- “I see. The other string musicians could handle your playing eh?”

LILY- (Smiling at the thought of further embarrassing Julie with the comments she had in mind but now was just not the time…) “Shane…”

SHANE- “Yes?”

LILY- “You don’t seem the LA type…a little more down to earth than I expected…”

SHANE- “Thanks…I think. Though, you barely know me…I may turn out to be a West Hollywood type after all.”

LILY- “Yes, my fellow artiste, perhaps you will.” (They smile. An odd silence just sits there.)

JULIE- “Shane I think that maybe Lily and I should just head to the hospital.”

LILY- “Why don’t we just wait here? It hasn’t been that long.”

JULIE- “I don’t know, I don’t see her leaving her daughter to come home right now.”

SHANE- “Listen, why don’t I call Kit, Bette’s sister and see how things are going? And you can decide after that?”

LILY- “Thanks Shane. Please do.” (Shane walks away to make the call.) “Julie I really don’t think we should do this at the hospital.”

JULIE- “I know. But at least her sister is there with her and her other friends. Here…well…I don’t know. I really don’t want to wait until tomorrow. And by then she still might not be leaving her daughter’s side. We can’t just wait for it.” (Julie rubs her forehead first with one hand then with both.) “Lily, I’m so tired. I hate this. I really hate this. I miss her. I just miss her. I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

LILY- (Putting her arm around her…) “I know…I know…it’s ok…it’s going to be ok.”

JULIE- “No, no it’s not. I half expect to be giving her a call before turning in tonight, to tell her I love her and hear her tell me the same. I can’t believe I won’t hear that wonderful voice again.” (Shane walks in.)

SHANE- “No answer. I’ve left a voicemail. I’m sure she’ll be getting back to me soon, so I suggest we wait. Kit’s is good about those things.” (Looking at Julie…) “I’m sorry…are you ok? This must be such a hard time for you.” (Shane kneels at Julie’s feet and looks up at her and gently pats her arm. Julie puts her hand on Shane’s head and strokes it.)

JULIE- “You’re sweet. Thank you.”

(At the hospital, Tina was bargaining to get her way.)

TINA- “Will you go home if I go with you? To meet this friend of yours?”

BETTE- (She looks at Tina like she’s got three heads…) “You want to come to the house? And meet my friend from New York? Whom I met after leaving here, leaving…”

TINA- “Bette stop. Let’s just go. I’ll drop you off if you don’t want me inside and I’ll just go home. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.”

BETTE- “Ok. Fine.”

TINA- “Good.” (She walks over and says a long goodbye to Angelica. Bette does the same. They head out.)

KIT- “Hey, is she ok?”

ALICE- “She better? That Dr. Sushee flew right past us.”

TINA- “He seems to think she’s stabilizing. I’m going to take Bette home. Alice, can you please stay?”

ALICE- “Of course. Sure. Yeah…it’s good…I got it covered…” (Kit looks at Alice who in turn looks at her and then at Bette.)

TINA- “C’mon Kit.” (They walk to the elevator. Kit looks worried.)


(Shane is sitting next to Julie. She had been telling her more about Bette’s world.)

SHANE- “She means a lot to all of us. It’s been difficult not having her around. When the accident happened it was a nightmare, especially with Angelica already sick. We all seemed to be walking around not seeing what was going on around us after we heard about the accident. Finally, we heard that she was ok. It was something else. I can’t imagine your pain, but I certainly got a glimpse. Bette is a big part of our lives, especially…well, even with everything tearing them apart, there’s still something special between her and Tina and Angelica. At least that’s my theory.”

JULIE- “I think that’s a sound theory Shane. I hope that they find their way back to one another, regardless of what form that new bond takes. We haven’t known Bette for very long, but we did manage to find out that part of her never left here. It must have been hard…very hard for her to leave all of you and stay apart from you and especially her child.”

(Kit was driving. Both Bette and Tina sat in the back. Kit periodically made eye contact with Tina in the rearview mirror. The drive was silent. Back at the house…)

SHANE- “It’s been difficult all around.”

LILY- “Shane, have you known Bette for very long?”

SHANE- “Since before she met Tina, over 8 years ago. I guess it’s more than that now. We got closer though during the years she was with Tina. I guess we all did.”

LILY- “This is her house right?”

SHANE- “Yes. I’ve been looking after it for her. I live next door.”

LILY- “It’s very nice.”

SHANE- “Bette’s got a good eye, and Tina too.”

JULIE- “She hasn’t changed it since they broke up?”

SHANE- “No. Not a thing. But then she left for New York.”

LILY- “One wonders whether she really left at all.”

JULIE- “You never know what life is going to bring or where it’s going to take you or by what route. We come, we go, arrive depart, travel here and there and sometimes find what we’re looking for but sometimes not and lose what we had to begin with. All this movement and yet the only journey that seems to matter is inside us.”

SHANE- “You can go all over the place but where it counts go absolutely nowhere.”

JULIE- “Hmm.”

LILY- “Shane, do you ever come out to New York?”

SHANE- “Not frequently.”

LILY- “Well, if you fancy a journey in the future, please come visit us. Here’s my card.”

JULIE- “You made cards? Since when?”

LILY- “Miran…since a while ago.”

JULIE- “I know Lil…she told me you were headstrong and didn’t like the idea but I thought she hadn’t managed to convince you.”

LILY- “It took her a while, but it eventually worked. She kept telling me it was unprofessional. Then, one day when I was visiting the gallery, she ambushed me in front of Bette and then Jason and Abigail got into the act. Honestly, all this for business cards. I’m a conductor, what do I need business cards for?”

SHANE- (Pointing to the card she just gave her…) “Well, it looks like this one here came in handy.”

LILY- “Oh really…do you, madam hair stylist, have business cards?”

SHANE- “Well…”

LILY- “Ah ha!”

JULIE- “You really should get them Shane. Think of all the people you meet.”

SHANE- “Yes but most of…well…”

LILY- “Mhmmmmm…See, Shane understands me.”

JULIE- “Uh huh.”

(The front door opens. Bette walks in. Tina and Kit follow and stand at either side. Shane looks up and stands, followed by Lily and Julie.)

BETTE- (She smiles initially as she sees Lily, but then sees Julie, looks at Shane, Lily and then Julie again…) “Julie?” (Lily looks at Kit but focuses on Tina who in turn is gazing at Julie and then Bette. Bette starts walking towards them. Lily and Julie walk away from the couch and towards Bette. Tina and Kit have approached as well, and stand next to Bette, a step or so away.) “I didn’t know you were here too.”

JULIE- (Julie steps closer to Bette. She raises her hands to Bette’s arms.) “Hey.” (She tries to speak further but can’t. She raises her right hand to stroke the left side of Bette’s face. She then moves into Bette to hug her.)

BETTE- (She embraces Julie and looks at Lily.) “It’s good to see you…how’s…” (Bette’s eyes meet Lily’s. Lily’s eyes are watering and she slowly shakes her head while looking into Bette’s eyes. Bette’s voice is cut short by what she sees and in a split second her mind catches up to what her gut sensed when she first saw Julie standing there. She tries to speak but can’t. Her throat is taken hostage by a lump and the emotions rising in her chest. She tightens her embrace of Julie.) “No…no…no…she was ok…she was ok…” (Julie rubs her back and places her hand on Bette’s head from behind.) “I’m sorry…I’m so sorry…” (Her voice cannot continue. Lily walks up and strokes Bette’s arm. She puts her other hand on Julie’s back. A few moments pass. Julie gently weakens the embrace and pulls back a bit to face Bette. Tears were streaming down her face and Bette was still crying.)

JULIE- (Holding Bette by the arms…) “Let’s sit down.” (Kit and Tina walk next to Bette, Kit putting her hands on Bette’s back.)

KIT- “Come on Sweetie…” (Lily escorts Julie to the couch as Bette follows and sits next to her. They instinctively hold each other’s hands. The others take their seats around them.)

JULIE- “I wanted to tell you in person. After everything it just wasn’t right for you to find out any other way.”

BETTE- “I…I can’t believe it. Julie, I…” (She cries…)

JULIE- (She puts her arm around her…) “I know…I know…God help me, I know…” (Tina looks at Julie and Bette intermittently. They all sit there for a while, comforting and feeling the pain they face.) “It happened relatively quickly. But we got to say goodbye. And Bette, she was so happy that you finally came home to your family. So very happy that you finally, as she put it, ‘got it through that thick skull of yours’.”

BETTE- (Wiping her face…) “Julie I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I don’t know what I would…” (Her voice cracks and she gathers herself. Kit and Tina look at one another.) “I…I said goodbye to her before I left. She made me give her a goodbye kiss.” (Bette cracks a smile.)

JULIE- “I know, she told me. She was happy that you ‘kept the promise’…that’s what she said to me. She wouldn’t explain, other than to say she was glad you returned to your family. Bette, maybe we can talk tomorrow before Miranda and…I mean Lily and I head back to New York.”

BETTE- “Sure, of course. I want you to meet Angelica. Will you come to the hospital?”

JULIE- “Yes.”

LILY- “Sure.”

BETTE- “I’m sorry…let me introduce my sister…this is Kit.” (They exchange greetings.) “And…this is Tina, Angelica’s mother.” (Julie and Tina shake hands for a few seconds longer than expected.)

TINA- (Greeting Lily…) “I understand we’ve met.”

LILY- “Yes, quite some time ago. You haven’t changed much. I’m sorry we had to meet again under these circumstances.”

BETTE- (To Julie…) “When…when’s the funeral?”

JULIE- “Jason is taking care of it. I don’t know yet. I expect we’ll be speaking to him tomorrow.”

LILY- “Bette, you know we think you need to stay here with your family.”

JULIE- “Yes. Bette, in a way, you had the good fortune of those moments in the hospital and having said goodbye to her and I don’t think she’d take offence if you didn’t come out to New York, under the circumstances. And we came out here and share this short bit of time with you together. I don’t expect you to fly out. You’ve been through a lot of physical and emotional trauma. I don’t want you to risk it on that level either. You need to be here for your family and to be with them.”

BETTE- “I don’t know, I need to…I can’t…” (Tina intervenes.)

TINA- “Bette…it’s ok.”

BETTE- “No, no it’s not. I don’t want to leave her again, but…I can’t not be there for Miranda…”

JULIE- “Honey you were there for Miranda when no one else could be…you were there for each other. Another woman needs you now…the little lady we all know, and that Miranda knew, you love so much…” (Bette cries quietly…)

TINA- “Bette…let’s see how she does tomorrow. Ok?”

LILY- “Regardless, Bette…you’re staying.” (She looks at Tina…) “Sorry…”

BETTE- “It’s not your decision.”

JULIE- “No, it’s mine.”

BETTE- “Julie…”

JULIE- “We’re friends, yes?” (Bette nods.) “We are all friends, yes?” (Bette nods.) “You care about me and respect me, yes?” (Bette nods.) “Miranda was my life partner, yes?” (Bette nods.) “Well, on her behalf and mine I’m telling you that you’re staying. She wouldn’t want it any other way and neither do I.”

TINA- “Julie, I am very sorry for your loss and I wish we had met under very different circumstances. You both seem to be very decent people, and from what I’ve heard you all have been very good friends to Bette. If I could just, as Angelica’s mom and Bette’s former life partner,” (Bette looks on…) “give my opinion, for what it’s worth…” (Julie smiles and nods.) “I respect your position Julie, and you’re obviously very generous and sensitive to Bette, but why don’t we leave this discussion for the morning? I think Bette needs to think things through and be happy with her decision. In the end, she’s the one who has to live with it. And while your feelings on the issue are extremely important and held in very high regard by Bette I’m sure, it really is, ultimately, her decision. I for one don’t want Bette to stay because of a feeling of obligation to Angelica or alternatively leave for the wrong reasons…I want her to do what’s in her heart. Whatever her decision, it won’t change what is going to happen to Angelica or to Miranda…but it will affect Bette.” (Bette stares at Tina.)

LILY- “Well said.” (Julie looks at Lily and Lily looks back at Julie…) “It sounded good…I mean it does make sense…”

JULIE- (She smiles at Lily and then looks at Tina…) “She’s right. Well said.”