Bette stood in front of her and placed her hand on Shane's upper chest.) "No." (Shane tilts her head, questioning the gesture.) "My friend, I have to say goodbye to you hereit'll just make it harder if we spend more time in there waiting. I don't think I can manage that" (her voice cracks) "I just can't" (Shane tears up and bows her head a bit. The lump in her throat fights her determination. But Bette can't keep her distance, and suddenly embraces Shane and holds her like she was letting the feel of her sink in so it would last forever.) "I love you. I love you. Thank youfor everything." (She loosens the embrace and slowly separates.) "I'm counting on youyou know that right? You have the key to the house, my carand you know I'm counting on you to" (She can't say another word without breaking down)
SHANE- "I'll watch out for her like a hawk." (She wipes her tears, almost showing a bravado as she thinks of Angelica.) "You take care of yourself and I expect updates. And I'll keep my wordno one will know. I guess I better go. Kit's probably still crying from yesterday. I'll go make sure she's ok. I'll email youok?"
BETTE- "Ok." (Then, after a wave of her hand, she turns and faces the airport entrance. She walks and doesn't look backshe can't look back nowthe well of tears hasn't dried at all and they were streaming down her face as she gallantly headed into the airport. Shane watched and winced at the site. She almost angrily held back the stubborn lump in her throat, got back into the car, and headed off to keep all her promises to her friend, one of the most amazing women she had known. 'She'll be back,' Shane said to herself, 'she's got to come back.')
(The flight was long. Bette couldn't sleepevery time she closed her eyes she'd start seeing images and hearing the scenes of the past. She tried to meditate. She thought of a beautiful placeand then without warning a little hand would touch her face and she'd see Angelica. She'd try and think of another beautiful place but yet again another face would haunt her. She focused on the image of Kit, but then she started hearing her words. She focused on Shane and then would feel her last hug. So she pulled out the papers Justin had sent hershe started looking at pictures of the Whitney. 'I can't believe itI'm going to be the director of the Whitney,' she thought to herself. It was now sinking in, the enormity of it all. She started to think of her pasther years at Yale, and her early years in the art world. She started to see all the people she had met back then. The professor at Yale, the artist at that first gallery. She stopped that line of thought, knowing it would progress to recent times. She thought about her past jobs and positions and the artthe focus of her young life and now maybe she hoped it would be her salvation. So she thought about the artshe thought about the upcoming days she would be having in one of the most amazing cities in the world. She'd have to meet the directors she hadn't yet met, and meet with Justin. He seemed quite likeable. He was a gentleman, and he seemed to have such high regard for Bette. She thought and thought and thoughtand miraculously managed to doze off.
STEWARDESS- "Ladies and gentlemen please keep your seatbelts fasten as we approach the La Guardia terminal. We hope you enjoy your stay in New York and look forward to seeing you again. Welcome to the Big Apple."
(Bette stirs as this speech fills the cabin. She looks out the passenger side window. Her mind is empty and the only thing occupying it now are the sights and sounds of her surroundings. Bette disembarks, heads through the checkpoints and picks up her luggage. She stands in line for a yellow cab and finally boards one. An older European man with an accent is her fortunate driver on this day. After loading the luggage he assumes the wheel.)
TAXI DRIVER- "Okay madam, where can I take you please?"
BETTE- "The Plaza please." (Bette had been trying to finalize an apartment she had made arrangements to rent on the Upper West Side but things weren't working out well, giving the last minute arrangements. She'd be staying at the Plaza for at least a few days.)
TAXI DRIVER- "Okay madamI take you there." (After a few minutes, he continues) "You ok madam?"
BETTE- "Yes, fine thanks."
TAXI DRIVER- "Okay madam. You have been to New York before?"
BETTE- "Yes, I have."
TAXI DRIVER- "It's ok madam, everything going to be okay."
BETTE- (She looks at him in the mirror) "And why wouldn't it be?"
TAXI DRIVER- (Having seen the puffy orbs of this ravishing lady, he doesn't want to push his clairvoyant luck) "No reasonbut just to remind you of how wonderful everything going to beyou knowjust to say all is ok and I hope always everything go ok for you. And you be happy. Is so important. Life, she's short."
BETTE- (She smirks) "Yes, she is. Thank you." (They arrive at the hotel and Bette checks in. She walks into her room, drops her things on the bed and walks straight for the window. 'Thank goodness, I got a room with a window,' she thought. She stands there gazing outthe Parkshe could see Central Park. It beckoned to her, like that first visit when she walked along the pathway, along the pond. She left her room, beating back her urge to try and sleep. The meeting at work wasn't until tomorrow morning. It was already late afternoon. She wanted the time to pass quickly and painlessly. If she could just hold on until tomorrow morning, she thought, then she wouldn't have time to think about anything else but work. Right now, she needed the respite of the sites and sounds of the city and the Park to help her focus, to help her forget.
Already it was like she was in a new world, another existence, a different consciousnesslike everything had been a dreama long, complex, and sometimes nightmarish dream. She exited the hotel into the bustling city. She smiled. 'I'm in New York,' she thought. She missed it all this time. It's like she had woken upin another dream. She looked around at everyone and everything and made her way over to the Park, to that pond. She sat on the bench as people walked by. She sat and took in the sites and sounds. She started to feel a little restless, and she didn't want to let one second go by before she would start to realize whyshe got up and headed back to the street, walking along, seeing the horse drawn carriages, the movie theatre near the hotel that played foreign films. She walked and walked and walked. A long while passed, and before she knew it, she was standing near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She remembered her previous visits here. She decided she needed another. Bette strolled through the galleries, or at least what she could stroll through at her pace.
