As she perused the client list from top to bottom slowly scrolling down the screen, Bette leaned back in her chair and thought about what a contradiction her life was.  Here she was professing to people on a daily basis that being healthy was imperative to living a quality life when she, herself smoked like a train and sometimes drank too much.  Sometimes she was so out of control that she had to take a smoke break during her client sessions. How sad was that?   “Very sad” Bette said aloud.

She enjoyed being a personal trainer and excelled at it.  She had been fit all of her life and years of dance and consistent exercise had fully prepared her for this very time in her life. This was a career that she truly enjoyed but it did not rule her life.  How could it when usually she was at such odds with the straight and narrow regiment of proper diet and good nutrition.  Outwardly, her body looked like she worked out consistently, but she didn’t.  She was blessed with excellent muscle tone and symmetry so her maintenance was minimal.     She welcomed the downtime of not having to wrack her brain everyday or perform under constant pressure.  Now she worked in conjuction with her body and her clients.  The rapport between the 3 of them was good and furthermore, she set her own schedule.   

When Ziggy abruptly left Bette without even as much as a good-bye, Bette left the art world just as abruptly and like he, without even as much as a good-bye.   

 “*****” she thought.

++++++++++++++

“Was that the doorbell?”  Bette wondered.  She lazily got off the bed, wiped the sticky dribble from her mouth and went to the door.  “Hel better have her key, dammit!”  She looked out the peephole and saw her neighbor Tina looking around aimlessly outside. 

Who is it?  Bette asked curiously.  Even though she knew who it was, living in NY instilled in her the habit to always ask.  .

“It’s your neighbor Tina from up the street!” Tina yelled.

Bette cautiously opened the door and asked Tina to come in.  “Hey Tina. How are you?  Please excuse me for a minute, I was lying down when you rang the doorbell & I need to brush my teeth. Make yourself comfortable”