Lastly, we come to Alice. My good friend and former lover, though perhaps bedmate might be a more accurate description. No one is more devoted to observing the lives of those around her than Alice. Alice lives for gossip. I could try to analyze the reasons for this, but that would take more time and mental energy than I can pull from my weary psyche. Everyone knows about Alices famous chart chronicling the sexual interactions of West Hollywood. After all, as Alice observed, everyone is sleeping with everyone else. Many of the lines on Alices chart are meaningless interactions. I wonder, though, how many of those lines represent heartbreak?

I know that there is a line between the names Bette and Candace. That line represents heartbreak, but to anyone looking at the chart it is simply another line; another someone sleeping with someone else. Does anyone care? Except for Tina and myself (and perhaps Candace though I prefer not to think of that), does anyone really care about the heartbreak that line represents. They will certainly enjoy the gossip. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Two more attractive women on the market now as potential bedmates.

My friends care. Dont they? If I were to respond to my heartbreak as Marina has done would I simply be a joke? A 1001 ways for Bette Porte to off herself. Would their wounds go any deeper? How long until I was forgotten or simply a bad joke retold so many times that the punchline has lost all levity? Would I be missed or would someone else simply take my place at our table to discuss and analyze the events of our lives and those around us.

I am indispensable arent I? No one can replace me in the lives of my friends. No one can replace the spot I hold in Tinas heart. Or, am I simply a line to be erased to make room for another line, another person, another life, another encounter, another heartbreak?

We have depth, dont we? We arent as shallow as we appear, arent we? We arent replaceable, are we? Tinas love for me can never be erased, can it? My friends need to have me in their life permanently, dont they? Bette Porter is more than a line than can be easily erased, isnt she?