Tina laughed out loud with that statement. It wasn’t really that funny but for some reason it struck her as the funniest thing she heard in days. She couldn’t stop laughing and now Alice just stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. ***** maybe she has lost her mind. Soon the rest of the group was staring at her. All Alice could do was shrug her shoulders at them.

Finally the giggling subsided with a concerned Alice looking on. That look was almost enough to get Tina started again. She was loosing her mind. She had to be. If she wasn’t crying she was laughing. This is what happens when insanity sets in. How did their lives get so out of control? A year ago it would have been unthinkable but now it was their life.

“Are you done?”

Tina almost laughs again, “I think I’m going crazy, Alice.”

“No you’re not. It’s a stress reliever. I know because I’m usually the one giggling on the floor uncontrollably. You took my thunder. What would they think if we were both over giggling our asses off?”

“They’d probably have no choice but to commit us.”

“Yeah, then we can share a room.”

“Maybe I should just commit myself now? But then again if I’m not check in then Helena won’t be able to find me. I hope she doesn’t think ask about Bette” With those words Tina stopped talking. She looked distraught over her own words.

“TK, are you okay?” Alice asks.

“Yeah, it’s I just hate the thought of Bette not moving, not talking, and not waking up.”

“I know what you mean. I hate that thought, too. She’s one of the good ones even if she’s a big pain in the *****.”

“Yeah, but she’s my big pain in the *****. I never stopped loving her, Al. I think she thought I had and now she’s in there.”

“I don’t know if that was the case, Tina. I do know she definitely still loves you. She justshe just made a mistake. I think it was a mistake out of desperation. She had so many things going on with you and the baby then there was that thing with Faye Buckley, the protestor in the front yard, the show at the CAC, her Dad’s disapproval. She was finding it hard to breath and none of us saw it. We are her friends, the ones closest to her, and we didn’t see it. If she didn’t get out of life for 5 minutes she would have self destructed right there on the spot. Maybe she did self destruct.”