Fan Fiction
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Angelica’s Fifth Fourth ~ Chapter Eight
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She remembered an odd conversation she had had with Helena almost a year earlier, after Peggy had reinstated her daughter’s access to the Peabody millions. Helena had arrived at Bette’s office at the end of the day without an appointment and had invited Bette to have a drink. Helena knew that Tina was on a business trip and that Kit had Angelica for a sleepover.
Bette, wary, had accepted.
Once they were settled in the bar in the Four Seasons, Helena began speaking immediately after they had placed their drink orders.
“Bette, I have to skip the usual polite preliminaries before I lose my courage.”
“You could wait for your Dutch courage to arrive.”
“I greatly doubt that I can wait that long.”
“Well that is certainly an attention-getting start. I am more frightened than curious, however.”
“Bette, we have become friends. Maybe even close friends.”
“That does depends on how close ‘close’ is.”
“Please, no Bill Clinton mockery.”
“I apologize. We are close friends. As close as can be reasonably expected, considering,’ she smiled. “Please continue.”
Helena saw the waiter retuning with their martinis. She ordered a second round for them both as soon as he placed their glasses on the table. As he walked away, Helena picked up her glass. Just before she gulped half of the glass’s contents, she explained, “We’ll need them. Or at least I will.”
Bette played with the stem of her martini glass, increasingly uncomfortable. “Helena, you need to get to the purpose of this meeting. Your behavior is so strange that, under different circumstances, I would worry that you were about to tell me that you are Angelica’s real father. Or that Peggy is my real mother. Or maybe that Melvin is your father.”
Helena laughed, “Oh good lord. None of that.”
“Then?” Bette asked, taking a small sip from her glass as she looked at the heiress.
Helena paused for a moment, looking at Bette. She glanced away, then turned her head back, “I was intentionally rude and dismissive when we first met.”
“You were, but I was asking you for money.”
“For the museum, not for yourself,” Helena smiled. “There is a difference.”
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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