“Okay. Okay thenalrighty.” Alice mumbled to herself as she returned
to the table. She smiled as she set up her laptop, wondering what was
next. Checking her watch she calculated how much time she had to come
up with compelling questions for her interview with Alexandra. “May
have to settle for interesting,’ she conceded.

ALICE’S APARTMENT

Dana awoke with a start. Bolting upright, she remembered where she
was and how she got there. “I woke Alice up this morning and asked to
take a nap,” she thought mortified. She looked around the familiar
bedroom nodding as it sank in. “Oh gawd,” she groaned, hiding her face
in the pillow.

The alarm clock by the bed told her it was 2:30pm. The bedroom door
was open and the apartment felt empty. She heard nothing but birds
singing outside Alice’s window. Although she hadn’t been drinking Dana
had that hangover peculiar to sleeping odd schedules. She was groggy
and felt out of sorts. Rising from the bed, she attempted to get her
bearings.

“Alice is on the air,” she remembered. She generally didn’t listen
to her ex-lover’s show but she was always aware of when it was on. At
first it was too painful to tune in after their breakup because Alice
so often shared their problems with anyone owning a radio, later
because Alice began to laugh again and to not talk about Dana at all.

 After washing up, Dana put back on her clothes from that
morning and began to look around Alice’s apartment. She hoped to find a
note from Alice that would give her some indication of her mood. There
was nothing. She tortured herself as she padded out to the kitchen:
“‘Mind if I take a nap? Hey Alice, would it be really strange if I take
a nap!?’ She must be ready to kill me.”

Eyeing the counter she brightened a little at the full pot before
her. ‘She made me coffee, ‘ she noted gratefully. Reheating a cup, the
tennis player flopped down on the couch rehashing the events that had
led her back to Alice’s door.

Dana had known going over to Alice’s place was unfair even as she
made the decision to do it. Things were so ugly between them right now.
Dana had been feeling completely unsettled. She was angry with Alice,
still frustrated by what she perceived to be a series of betrayals. As
far as Dana could see, Alice was the one who started this whole spiral
of events.