Fan Fiction
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Angelica’s Fifth Fourth ~ Chapter Eight
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“’Those who can do, do. Those who can’t, teach.’ Or, administrate.” Bette snorted in disgust. She quickly looked at her family, afraid she had disturbed their sleep. Angelica, though, had not moved. Tina rustled and Bette was guilt stricken. Tina, with large parts of her skin aching, had taken a long time to fall asleep. Bette was relieved when she saw Tina settle back into her deep sleep.
Bette tried to block her sour thoughts. She reminded herself to count her many blessings. There was something about the late night, though, Bette mused. Maybe good and happy thoughts needed natural light. Whatever it was, unhappy thoughts, self-loathing and self-doubts thrived in the middle of the night.
Bette thought about her father, who had always said take hold of the lessons from your misjudgments but never look back.
Bette had tried to do that for so long.
Nonetheless, she could not stop the thoughts that ran through her head at physics-defying speed.
“The hubris of naming my gallery after myself.”
“The hubris of using the term “hubris,” likening the gallery’s failure to the tragedy of a Greek heroic figure.”
Bette thought about her beloved gallery. It had not failed, not really. It had thrived well for a small independent place.
Bette had studied painting, but it had taken until she was a year through Yale’s Master of Fine Arts program before she knew that she was not very good. Bette had no interest in a career as a second-rater. Although unable to assess her own talent, with other students she was able to tell whether or not someone was good by looking at two of his works. She could tell if someone was great by looking at three. Only a handful of her fellow students were good. Only two were great.
She began to spend as much time as she could with the more gifted students, wondering if their skill could be learned or their creativity absorbed. Bette knew it was unlikely, and she soon confirmed what she had expected. She continued to paint, deciding that she should finish her degree while using the time to think of a new career. Unlike most things in her life, her new career was unplanned. Bette had been setting up the display of her work for a class show, when she saw the most gifted student in the school setting up her sculptures. Bette thought that her presentation was flattening their dramatic effect. She walked over to the sculptress and, feigning casualness, made a few suggestions. The student had been suspicious. The MFA program was very competitive. She sensed something though, and looked at Bette very closely. She could tell that the other student genuinely admired her art. She somehow knew that Bette had removed herself from competition. The sculptress glanced over at Bette’s own work and understood immediately. The sculptress accepted the suggestions. The result was that her work was appreciated by the faculty more than it had ever been. The concepts she had been trying to demonstrate were understood as never before. The sculptress knew that her work had gotten better but not better enough since the last show to account for the different results. She (correctly) attributed it to Bette and she discreetly shared her praise for the other student.
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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