Fan Fiction
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Angelica’s Fifth Fourth ~ Chapter Eight
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Tina, Bette, and Angelica had joined the other Porters at the large dining room table. Tina served herself and made a plate for Bette from the dinner buffet, while Angelica was guided through the selections by her other mother. They had taken the three remaining empty seats, which were at one of the table’s els, with Angelica sandwiched between her two mothers. Tina looked at the unfamiliar faces around the table and suppressed a laugh. That morning, she had asked Bette’s help to keep track of all of their fellow houseguests. Bette had looked at Tina with embarrassment.
“T, other than Clifford and his wife Yvonne, I haven’t seen some of these people in years. I’ve got dozens of cousins and I’m having trouble placing these.”
“Shall I suggest nametags?”
“Aunt Grace will put you out on the curb. Angelica and I, though, will wave at you from the window.”
At dinner, Angelica carefully unfolded her napkin and placed it in her lap. One result of the almost daily trips to The Planet was Angelica’s excellent table manners, which Aunt Grace observed approvingly.
As Tina listened to the table chatter, she thought that Porters were excellent conversationalists. The discussion was lively but not trivial. After fifteen minutes or so, however, Tina began to feel ill. She sipped water, but it did not help. She suddenly felt very cold. She tried to keep her attention on the conversation, but it was difficult to focus.
“Being a dean is quite an about turn for you, Bette.”
“How so?” Bette asked Alvin, a cousin she barely recalled.
“I remember, when you were studying to be a painter,” Alvin paused, “I’m sorry. I don’t remember where.”
“The MFA program atYale.”
“Right,” he nodded. “You said that all of the professors had done their best work years before. You thought that at least they had realized it and had found a creative outlet in teaching new artists. You actually called them “has beens’!”
Tina could not follow what was being said, but she saw a twitch of Bette’s jaw and, somewhere in her fog, she knew Bette was upset. She made note to revisit it when she felt better.
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”I apologize for no shout-outs.” – never worry about that, Spumoni!… especially when you’ve already said this: ‘Special thanks and gratitude for those who comment and PM. As other site authors have truthfully said, the encouragement keeps me posting.’… :-)
Enjoyed Bette’s late night thoughts, hopefully Tina will feel better soon and can join the discussion.
Nice to see another chap! I know it’s thought that I enjoy ragging on someone in particular, but I just call em like I see em, and a big question was presented in this very chap. Why should Person 1 in a relationship feel entitled to enjoy a career that is fickle and unstable, however much she might enjoy it, and be fine with this arrangement, if Person 2 had to leave the profession SHE loved and take positions that are killing her spirit, in order to ensure financial stability for the family? Oh, this one hurt, Spumoni, I have very fair skin and when I was a stupid kid, fried myself too often. I can still feel how sick I’d get and how much it hurt. Tina needs to put on a gallon of sunscreen.
gallery is a great idea, i hope tina feels better soon so they can talk about it….P.S. Angelica has better table manners than me :)
Thx for the thx. Once of those voice recognition programs would be good. I fell asleep in the sun once; what a mean burn. Inspite of cream etc. I still lost the skin off my back. Now Bette. I know what she means by ‘fraud’. I feel like that where I teach at a private high school for boys. Its like taking $$$$ under false pretences. I wonder sometimes what happened to honesty in education. Like Bette, the students would be best steered in a direction that could lead to a gainful career. Let her have her Gallery. She deserves it after all the shyt she’s survived. Let T be the big $$$$$$ earner, she likes what she does & she’s good at it. In fact, let Helena buy the studio out & put T in charge as part of her recompense to Bette and Tina for the damage she did. BETTE COULD MAKE THAT A CONDITION!!!! PPS
I fell asleep on the beach once, on a cloudy day, no sunburn on a cloudy day, right? WRONG..but only one side of my face was turned to the sun. Only one side burned and peeled and looked just lovely, the other half untouched. Quite a sight it was. Tina doesn’t need Helena to secure her career, she hasn’t had to sacrifice anything. I want Bette to do what she loves now, and is it odd that Helena has seen and cared about, what Tina hasn’t?
Brilliant writing, just brilliant! Thank you!!
Just doing a job b/c it is stable can kill one’s spirit. But Bette has responsibilty. If Helena is going to be her sugar mommy then that might work if it doesn’t belittle Bette.
I don’t want Bette to be belittled either, but I didn’t get the sense that Helena was trying to do that. Don’t lots of galleries have backers,sponsors, whatever they are called, etc?
Wow, three posts in quick succession. I enjoyed Bette & Boo’s carousel ride and all the arcade games that you oh so patiently and expertly described. Loved the quick glances that Tina and Bette made to each other and their daughter during the ride to and from the beach. Loved the ornate sand castle that the family built. It took time to build and they could have considered it a waste of time because the waves will simply wash it away. But I see it as a metaphor for their family life. It takes a lot of time and effort to build something beautiful like their family and they have to create and recreate their bond tirelessly every day. I love reborn junk-food-junkie Bette, smart-ass Tina who’s surprised and awed by Bette’s inner childlikeness and more importantly, the utterly cute and adorable Angie who burst into tears out of worry for her sunburnt Mama T. I love this story, Spumoni! Huge thanks to you!!! :>
Great post lady. What the heck is Helena really up to? PPS
The mind can play so man tricks on the psyche and one’s life. Bette is successful she just may not have proceeded to do what she wanted as a young adult. Life has a way of messing with one’s dreams.
Spumoni, just caught up with this story. I’m blown away. You capture the true voice of the characters beautifully. “She had loved her gallery. She loved Tina more.” That particular bit really moved me I think because we all make sacrifices for the ones we love. I will be anxiously awaiting your next update. Thanks for posting :)
again and again, simply this site’s most talented writer! that was amazing, in depth, well thought of, and did i say, amazingly written??! please post soon.
sunburn is the pits! i’m waiting for bette to share the idea of opening another gallery with tina. i think tina will back her and be perfectly fine being the breadwinner for a while!:)PPS