(Peggy sat in her large leather office chair, behind the humungous desk that adorned her stunning office. She wore her bifocals as she peered into the pages of a book or manuscript that was getting her attention recently. She was sitting at an angle that allowed the light from the large windows to perforate and fall on the pages of the book, which she had actually described as ‘somewhat pithy’ to her secretary Gertrude, or ‘Gerdi’ as she preferred. The Peabody monarch of her own vast empire was catching up on her pithy read as she peered down on the words that occupied her at the moment:

‘It was the best of times, it was the weirdest of times. I hadn’t thought things could get worse or weirder. It was like a touch of madness in a reality surrounding me, an escape from logic and reason in the machinations of the day in the life, so called, of mine. Who were these characters lining the streets, lining the surroundings of my everyday mundane meanderings in this ‘life’ of ME and then daring to actually enter its dilapidated fray? They did it blatantly, with such uncommon and really unknowing courage, shaming me in my humble course of existence, which can only most generously and generally be called ‘living’. ‘Awake, awake’ they yelled out to me…I was in a slumber of untold mediocrity and the banal tasks of a predictable life, but they rose up undaunted and called me to task for my sin of un-living and my crime of perpetuating the unlived life.’ And so wrote the unknown author Izzy Oxford Nilrem, and so it was read by Peggy Peabody, the self-proclaimed protagonist of her own story, who never let anyone determine her present or her future, for disdain of regret drove her to ensure that her past would never invoke anything of the kind.)

GERDI- “Ma’am, it’s line 1 for you, Mr. Peabody.” (Peggy abandons one form of peering for another…a piercing sort of gaze leveled at Gerdi…) “Oh I know Mrs. Peabody, but please, he insisted.” (She leaves and Peggy moans slightly as she picks up the phone.)

PEGGY- “Dicky, what’s the problem now? She leave you for a sane person?” (Peggy’s eyes light up as she giggles at the caller’s reply.) “Dicky you nut, I’ve told you a thousand times…yes, yes, alright…FINE…well it’s funny Dicky, my odd little relative. Helena? No no no…Yes, I’m sure. Dicky dear, you made Gerdi interrupt my reading, and you know how I don’t like to be interrupted…what? Oh for Pete’s sake Dicky…Yes yes…oh all right Dicky…now let me get back to my read. Yes, goodbye.” (She hands up and reverts to the pages of her book. After a half moment, she grunts…she can’t get back into the fray of her pithy story. She brings the pages together and yells… “GERDI, let’s get moving…and patch me through to the hospital phone before you come back in.” (A few moments later, Gerdi walks in…)

GERDI- “On line 1, Mrs. Peabody.” (She sits in the chair opposite the humongous desk.)

PEGGY- (Waiting and holding the receiver…) “Yes? Hello…who’s this? Kit? Right then…how is she my dear? Oh very good. Splendid. You now that ‘Dr. Demetrakapulas’ is top notch…yes yes…Dr. Dimi. A fine woman. I hope to be by today. Yes. All right then. Oh not at all. It’s my pleasure. Bye now.” (She looks up at Gerdi…) “She’s doing well.”

GERDI- “Oh wonderful. I’m so glad.”

PEGGY- “You did a fine job with all these arrangements you’ve been making for me these past weeks. It’s been a bit hectic, and you helped me accomplish all my goals. Thank you Gerdi.”

GERDI- “My pleasure ma’am.”

PEGGY- “Now, let’s see…did you send flowers to the funeral in New York?” (Gerdi nods.) “Poor thing. How awful. You remembered to send flowers in Bette’s name as well?” (Gerdi nods.) “I’ll tell her later that I did that. She’s got a lot on her plate. When I first met her she had such aplomb…an exquisite young woman, though not very young. She has such strength and such character, and such beauty…I hope now that she finds herself and her lover again.”

GERDI- “Ms. Kennard?” (Peggy nods.) “But I thought she already found her…” (Peggy looks at her as though she’s grown a second head…which makes her realize…) “Ohhhh, yes….right….you mean re-connect.” (Peggy smiles.) “Sorry…” (She chuckles.)

PEGGY- (She smiles…) “You’ve been chatting with Dicky too often…he’s affecting your brain Gerdi.” (They both chuckle.)

GERDI- “He’s funny, Mrs. Peabody.”

PEGGY- “A veritable riot. Anyway…let’s get going on this other ‘banal’ paperwork and ‘mundane meanderings’…” (Gertrude looks at her oddly…) “…corporate broo ha ha…bores the Dickens out of me.” (Gerdi smiles knowingly.)

(Bette wakes. Her eyes open rather casually. It’s a couple of hours since she last closed them. Now open, their perspective hasn’t changed at all in two hours…she’s still facing the same wall she faced when she fell asleep. And the same obstruction still prevents her from rising without stirring things…Tina lays entrapped in her arms and supported on her side by the length of Bette’s body right behind her. Bette feels Tina’s head and soft hair on her face. She closes her eyes as casually as she had opened them, and breathes the faint aroma of her captive…slowly and gently. She feels an expanding warmth, which was uninspired by climate or foreign sources of energy…just the natural beauty and energy of the one she held. She can’t help herself…the feel of the hair is not enough…she slowly slides her sensitive lips downward and nuzzles them into the shoulder of her former mate…a kiss…she affixes it mildly, gently, unassumingly…and then reverts to her previous stance up against the hair and its source.)

TINA- (Whispering…) “Hey…”

BETTE- (‘Damn’, she thinks, as she blushes.) “Hey. Did I wake you?”

TINA- “Yes, actually. But that’s ok. What time is it?”

BETTE- “We’ve been out just a couple of hours.”

TINA- “I feel so rested.”

BETTE- “Yeah, me too.”

TINA- “Bette…”

BETTE- “Yes?”

TINA- “Helena Peabody standing in our kitchen and yelling ‘OYE STOP’…that wasn’t a dream was it?”

BETTE- (She smiles…) “Afraid not.”

TINA- “Mmmm. I thought so.”

(In that city of cities, on the green grass they walked hand in hand, Julie in the middle and Justin and Lily on either side, as they traversed the spaces of green that lay between the headstones at the cemetery, with intermittently appearing trees and little bushes. Once Julie had place her one red rose on the casket, it was over, it was over for all time. Her two loyal companions awaited the departure of all who attended, and they remained, a safe but close distance, as Julie experienced and delivered a farewell they would remember for all their lives. As supports, she leaned on them as she walked away from that final resting place, and they supported her every wince, sigh, and weakened stride…feelings and motions made in the long departure from that quiet last point of solitude and where remains of a life’s journeywoman now lay. They entered the chauffeured car, still both at her side and hands joined in sadness, in pain, in remembrance, and in much love. As the car took them through a wordless ride into the city and then finally approached the house that held their home, the sentinels guided their friend to her door and into this place…one filled with much warmth and laughter once. Justin and Lily were resolved…they would be staying with their Julie these first few days, even weeks perhaps. It could not be any other way, at least not for them.)

JUSTIN- “I’ll fix us a pot of tea,” he says to Julie as his hand pats her arm gently and she nods appreciatively.

LILY- “Do you want something to eat?”

JULIE- “No, not just yet. Thanks.” (Lily guides the sullen but beautiful woman to the couch.) “Actually, I think I better go change.”

LILY- “Ok.” (Julie ascends the stairs as Lily watches her. She feels her sad heart almost exit her chest as though it wanted to follow Julie wherever she went and protect her from the solitude she would now find most everywhere. She waited and waited, periodically glancing up. After quite some time, Lily could wait no more. She ventured up the stairs and quietly approached Julie and Miranda’s room. Hiding from the behind the slightly ajar door, Lily felt her tears stream down her face as she weathered the sounds of Julie’s cries. She didn’t want to intrude at first, but she felt the weeping start to intensify instead of wane. She walked over to Julie, who was sitting on the bed and holding a shirt of Miranda’s, crying woefully in recognition of the fact that no word, act, or event could alter the new reality she now fervently wished God in heaven would somehow erase. Lily, with all her inner strength, zeal, and love for her friends and this now delicate woman, could do no more than hold her close…and thus she did.)


(At Angelica’s bedside, Kit is reading her little one a story. Angelica was a bit agitated, so Alice stroked her as Kit narrated Angelica to sleep.)

ALICE- (They both speak softly.) “Poor thing. Do you think she’s going to be able to sit up soon?”

KIT- “I hope so. She’s getting restless lying there on her stomach all the time. Dr. Dimi said they have to check the incision later.”

ALICE- “Helena and Shane should be here soon. Did they say what kind of food they were going to get?”

KIT- “I don’t know. Shane said they were going to go to some things first and then go for food. She called about two and half hours ago and said they’d be here in about three or four hours.”

ALICE- “I hope the mammas don’t come back until evening.”

KIT- “Yeah, me too. They really need to rest up. Then they can do the evening shift and go home and get a full night’s sleep.” (Alice looks at Kit.) “What?”

ALICE- “I dunno. Just wondering…”

KIT- “Wondering what? How you’d like to be a fly on the wall?” (Alice smiles.) “Yeah, me too…” (Dr. Sushee approaches.) “Hi doctor.”

DR. SUSHEE- “Ohhhhh….look at the little one. She look peaceful. Very good.”

ALICE- “She’s been a bit agitated this morning. Will she be able to move around a bit soon?”

DR. SUSHEE- “Oh yes. Dr. Dimi will examine incision later. She have to move around a bit to keep circulation healthy, which is why nurse comes to move limbs little bit every few hours.”

KIT- “I can’t wait to hold her.”

DR. SUSHEE- “You know…I bet she can’t wait to hold all of you either.” (They all smile.) “I go. Mammas no here?”

ALICE- “No, they went home to rest.”

DR. SUSHEE- “Oh very good. They have to prepare.”

ALICE- “For what?”

DR. SUSHEE- “For Angelica. Is adjustment for children more so than grown ups after surgery. So they will need their energy.”

ALICE- (Wryly…looking at Kit…) “Then maybe we shouldn’t have let them go home alone…”

DR. SUSHEE- “Eh?”

KIT- “Alice!”

ALICE- “Ahhh, well, you know doctor, they’re very active and may not get much sleep…they…they just work so hard…you know? I mean geez, they’re probably cleaning the house as we speak…”

DR. SUSHEE- “Oh no…this no good, they must rest…too much stress. I go now. I hope to speak to them later. I will come by.” (He leaves and Kit stares at Alice.)

ALICE- “What!”

KIT- (She shakes her head…and then stops and looks at Alice…) “It’s too soon…I can’t imagine they…well…I don’t know…”

ALICE- “I don’t know either, but I wouldn’t be surprised. They’re either sleeping from exhaustion, butting heads and bumping into one another as they get used to being in the same room again, or…well, you know…”

KIT- “Yes all right…I know. You know, it’s interesting. I saw them standing next to each other yesterday and something struck me.”

ALICE- “Mhm…?”

KIT- “Tina was standing at the bedside, her one hand on the railing and the other stroking Angelica’s head. Bette was standing behind her and a bit to the side, her left hand stroking Angelica’s arm and hand, with her other hand holding onto the railing on the other side of Tina looking down at Angelica, right next to Tina’s head. They couldn’t be closer.”

ALICE- “And?”

KIT- “And nothing…it’s like time had stood still, like they had never been apart, like it was the most natural thing in the world…not though this hadn’t happened in months…though it hadn’t…not for a really long time. Some things I guess never do change. Some things are unshakable…thank goodness. Or at least I hope that’s what I was seeing.”

ALICE- “Kit, for her sake…let’s hope you were seeing at least a bond of a lifelong friendship if nothing more. But I’m betting the farm on the ‘more’.”

(Tina starts to stir a bit more after the sensation on her shoulder registers a familiar tingle. She starts to turn from her side to her back and then onto her other side to face Bette, all the while Bette not having moved more than absolutely necessary in order to accommodate the shift in position. Tina adjusts her sights to Bette’s gaze, as her head rests on the pillow.)

TINA- “I really needed that nap.”

BETTE- “Mmmm.” (Tina then lifts her head and supports it by her bent arm and hand, prompting Bette to do the same. They are quite close in proximity.)

TINA- “I can’t believe it was only a couple of hours. I guess we should…hhmm…” (…full stop… her words end, and her eyes close briefly…Bette had placed her hand on Tina’s waste, stroking the area with her fingers and then stroking the landing point with her hand…gently, upwards and downwards. Hazel eyes then re-emerge into Bette’s vision. Tina’s hand rises slowly and her fingers land softly, as though making a first impression, on the right side of Bette’s face. Tina holds them there for a moment and then begins to touch the features gently, stroking the forehead, the eyebrow on the right side, and then the cheekbone…traversing it with her thumb as the fingers rest on the cheek. She feels further down the cheek, letting the fingertips revel in renewed sensation of a well-known landscape, trying to sense every soft point of it and seek out by touch the way to Bette’s lips as she looks into the dangerous brown orbs with her own eyes. She traces the curvatures of this place, while Bette revels in this rediscovery, done in such a gentle yet grueling pace… until the wandering fingers are grasped by the lips they investigate…grasped gently, grasped playfully, and wetting their tips while whetting the appetite of the one who guides them. But, almost unexpectedly, this makes Bette’s heart jump, while causing Tina’s to take siege of her chest, and Bette motions her onto her back, embracing her as though the threat of escape was near. They lay there for a moment, feeling that sensation of their bodies so close. Bette looks at her and lowers her forehead onto Tina’s, while her body rests along the entire length of Tina’s form. She slowly grasp’s hold of the right side of Tina’s face while her forehead then caresses the left side and Tina’s hands freely navigate Bette’s back, arms and head. Their legs intertwine as Bette lowers herself and then rests her head gently on Tina’s chest, keeping her auditory sense apace with the heartbeat that she once heard so often from this distance and knew so well. Tina closed her eyes to feel and feel only what she did right now…that being, that soul, that body on her own. Bette was beholden to the one she held, and besotted by her in every way. They let only the moments pass, the touches and the sensations were recorded intently.) “Sooooo, as I was saying…I…I guess we should probably…”

BETTE- “Yeah, we should…we should probably go now.”

TINA- “Make sure everything is ok…”

BETTE- “Mhm…give the girls a break in their shifts.”

TINA- “Exactly, we have to relieve Alice and Kit remember.” (Bette lifts her head slightly and moves upwards towards Tina’s face as she slowly moved off of her, to the side, and Tina followed…and then mirrored Bette’s movements, close to her, all the way up as they both sat upright, adjusting their embrace during the transition. Tina supported herself with one hand while resting the other around Bette. She moved her face up against Bette’s, while her hand grasped the other side, touching it, stroking it. And then her face pulled back a bit, so she could see Bette’s. Her eyes tracked Bette’s. Another second could barely allow itself into being, before Tina suckled Bette’s lips into a brief kiss, amid the sounds of two escaping sighs. Bette puts a sliver of distance between them and captures Tina’s vision with her dancing irises…)

BETTE- “But I thought we had the evening shift…” (Tina’s eyes widen and they both start to laugh.)

TINA- “Come on my spouse, your time will come.” (Bette smiles, realizing she hadn’t heard that since after Angelica was born and she watched and held Tina as she breast-fed.) “I’ll prepare some sandwiches. Dr. Dimi is going to come by and I want to make sure we’re there. It’s ok. We’ll take it slow.” (They saunter off to get dressed and head over to the hospital.)

(At the hospital, Shane and Helena arrive.)

KIT- “Hey you two.”

SHANE- “Hi guys. How’s she doing?”

ALICE- “She actually just woke up from a nap.” (She looks at Angelica…) “Ahhhhh, look at you sleepy lady…looooook…Yoda and her friend are here…”

HELENA- “Her friend? How come I don’t get a title?” (Alice and Shane look at one another, their eyes wide open…Kit looks side to side…) “Hey…how come…ok what’s wrong? Oh…ohhhh…I have a title?” (She realizes it might not be a good thing…) “All righty then…” (She looks at Angelica…) “Sweetness…how are you today eh? Yes…” (She kisses Angelica on the head, eliciting a smile from the little one.)

ALICE- “Wow, you got a smile. Hey, guys, Dragon got a…”

HELENA- “WHAT?”

ALICE- “Nothing…”

HELENA- “You little pissant…”

SHANE- “It was from before…”

ALICE- “Yeah, from way way back…”

SHANE- “Yeah, you remember, from when you did Ti…” (They all look at her…) “You know what I mean…”

HELENA- (Looks at Kit…) “Pretty impressive when you think about it really…”

KIT- “You could say that…I guess it means you made quite an impression back then…”

HELENA- “Quite…”

KIT- “But look how far we’ve come…and after all, there have been know to be friendly dragons…”

HELENA- (Sort of smiling, kinda cringing…) “Riiiiight…”

ALICE- “Yes, right, like…”

SHANE- “Like, you know, in those fairly tales…”

ALICE- “Fairy tales? What fairy tales? Don’t they all have nasty dragons? Unless you mean like in the songs, like you know…” (She sings a little…) “Puff the magic dragon…” (Helena’s face contorts and Kit looks at Shane and they both break out laughing. Then Helena and Alice finally descend into a fit of laughter…)

KIT- “Well aren’t we the motley crew…”

HELENA- “Well, at least I have a legend that once preceded me. And now I have overcome it and…and well, my mother took all my money, I moved into the house next to Porter, with Yoda here, and…and I have good friends…”

KIT- “Progress!”

ALICE- (Looking at Helena…) “She hasn’t given you your money back?”

SHANE- “Alice!!!”

KIT- “So, let’s change the subject shall we? Did you pass by the house?”

HELENA- “Oh did we ever. Dragon eh? Well, I tell you, I was in fine form over there at the Porter residence…”

KIT- “What do you mean?”

SHANE- “Helena got kinda pissed and yelled at Bette and Tina.”

ALICE- “What?????! What happened?”

SHANE- “We accidently walked in on them…”

ALICE- (Turning to Kit…) “SEEEEE, I knew it…”

SHANE- “Knew what?”

ALICE- “They…you know…”

SHANE- “ALICE! They were arguing.”

KIT- “Arguing?”

HELENA- “Dredging up every bloody misstep from the beginning of time. I was appalled. I mean really…”

SHANE- “Bette brought up how Tina did Helena…”

KIT- “Oh my…”

HELENA- “But I stopped that silliness dead in its tracks…”

ALICE- “What did you say?”

SHANE- “OYE!!!”

KIT- “What?”

SHANE- “OYE…she said ‘oye’…”

ALICE- “Oye?”

HELENA- “I didn’t…I said…oh it doesn’t matter what I said exactly…I stopped that line of discussion and let them have it. Stopped their tirade…thank goodness before they got to that nasty bit of ‘Henry’ business. Told them to stop their silliness or I’d tell mummy and Dr. Dimi and keep them safely away, in their madness, from the little one. I mean it was ridiculous, the way they were going at one another…you’d think they had all this pent up…” (She cringes and looks at Shane…) “ewhh…oh yes…I see what you mean…” (Shane shrugs.)

ALICE- “See what?”

HELENA- “Well…”

KIT- (Looking at Alice…) “Like we were saying before…you know…”

ALICE- “Ohhhhh….ahhhhhhh….”

KIT- “So how did you leave it?”

SHANE- “Helena left them off with a warning in the kitchen, after she told them how crazy they were being, they stood there speechless, and we left.”

ALICE- “Ok then.”

KIT- “Well, I wonder when we’ll be seeing them.”

ALICE- “Aren’t they supposed to be coming tonight?”

KIT- “That’s the plan.” (Bette and Tina arrive.)

BETTE- “Hey guys…” (Shane blushes, Helena looks at Kit, and Alice tries to seem normal…)

ALICE- “Hey there…how…how’s it going? Angelica…look, it’s Mamma T and Mamma B…” (Bette and Tina exchange only slightly awkward smiles with Helena and Shane and Kit. They then focus on Angelica.)

KIT- “So you ladies are early.”

TINA- “I wanted to be here when Dr. Dimi comes by so we took a nap and thought we may as well come over now. Maybe we’ll leave early tonight. Is that ok by the way?”

HELENA- “No problem.”

SHANE- “Sure, sounds good.”

ALICE- “Glad you took a nap. You needed the rest…”

KIT- (Eyeing Alice…) “Yeah, you look rested…that’s good. Why don’t you mommies catch up with Angelica here and we’ll all go downstairs for some coffee.” (They nod and agree. The gang leaves. Bette and Tina connect with Angelica.)

BETTE- “Well THAT was subtle.”

TINA- (Smiling…) “They’re quite a group.”

BETTE- “Mhmm.” (Bette comes over to the side of the bed where Tina has one hand on Angelica’s arm and the other stroking her head. She comes up close behind her and touches Angelica in the same way. Tina leans into Bette slightly as she continues to focus on Angelica.)