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Continued from page 153…
Wednesday, September 22nd, 1988, 9:24 P.M.
“What?” Kathy stammered. “Why? Why are you mad at me?” she asked, anxiously. Kathy was trying to figure out what she had done wrong. It didn’t seem possible, seeing as how this was the first time she had spoken to Belinda in person in three months.
“How can you still be doing business with Charlotte?” Belinda demanded.
Kathy was bewildered. “I don’t know what you mean?”
“I heard you on Gina’s car phone.. She said— “I thought you do business with Charlotte?” And you must have said.. something like.. “I’m an executive. I don’t go to warehouses.. because Gina said— “Well, get your executive ass over there.. Something like that? Does that ring a bell? Is that what you said?”
Kathy continued to look befuddled as she tried to absorb all of this. “Yeah, that sounds about right,” she answered.
“Well, what the fuck, Kathy? How can you do business with Charlotte after what she did to me?”
Kathy was now staring off to the right with her mouth hanging open. She didn’t know what to say. This was all new information to her.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “What did Charlotte do to you?”
Now it was Belinda’s turn to look shocked. Her eyes popped open as she glared back at Kathy.
“What do you mean, what did she do to me?!! .. She had me locked up in an insane asylum!! … She’s trying to steal my family!!”
Kathy looked like she had seen a ghost as she stood up from the bed. “What?!!! What are you talking about?!! Steal your family?!!
Belinda could not believe what she was hearing. She threw down her hands and began frantically pacing around the room in a complete daze, occasionally grabbing her head and grunting in anger and disbelief. She was hearing two conflicting stories and was beginning to wonder who was on her side. She was wondering who was telling her the truth. She was wondering why Gina and Kathy would tell her two different stories.
Then, she began wondering the worst.
“What’s going on here?” she asked. “What are you and Gina doing to me?”
Kathy was scared and shivering. Belinda was starting to become unraveled. In a state of quivering trepidation, Kathy sat down on the edge of the bed hoping to calm Belinda down and coax her to sit down next to her. “Belinda, it’s me,” she said. “Talk to me… You know you can tell me anything… Sit down here and talk to me… Please.”
But Belinda would not join her. She continued to stand resolutely and breath heavily. She was willing to be calm, but wanted a definitive answer.
“Gina told me.. in the hospital.. that you guys knew everything about what Charlotte was doing,” she began. “That you guys knew everything.. about the drugs that she planted in my house.. about the fact that she is still in love with Myles.. about.. how you guys wanted to kick me out of the band.”
Kathy was more than dumbfounded by that last statement. She pined for something to say. Then, in true rock-and-roll style, she spit out the first thing that came to her mind—
“Belinda.. why would we want to kick you out of the band? We would totally suck without you.”
“I know,” admitted Belinda. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
Kathy scrunched up her mouth and stared back at Belinda in an amusing fashion. She held the look for several seconds before rolling her eyes. She couldn’t believe Belinda would say something like that after everything that had previously come out of her mouth.
But, lo and behold, it was time to play along. The girls could never help themselves no matter what the situation.
“Uh-huh,” Kathy grunted. “Still got time to think about that, do ya?”
“Oh, shut up,” said Belinda in one, fantastic, comical conclusion.
And, after they both smiled and realized what tremendously hilarious actors they were, it was time to get back to the serious business at hand. Belinda put her hands back on her hips and spoke—
“Well… Did you know or didn’t you?” she asked.
Kathy stood up from the bed and turned her back towards Belinda.
“Belinda.. I swear… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” explained Kathy in an overtly suspicious tone.
In an instant, Belinda did not like Kathy’s mannerisms. She knew her bosom-buddy intimately and immediately surmised that something was not right with her. She waited for Kathy to turn around.
“You don’t know anything about what I’m saying, huh?” she asked in an accusatory way.
Kathy would not turn around. Her back remained facing Belinda as she spoke. “No… I don’t,” she answered as she swallowed.
Belinda was not buying any of this. She steadfastly stood there and gave Kathy’s backside a dubious glare, allowing plenty of time for Kathy to fidget and look uncomfortable. In her mind, the fact that Kathy would not turn around and face her was a dead giveaway.
And so, Belinda had no choice but to act like a mother busting-out one of her children for acting naughty.
“Well, then… I guess we’ll just have to go downstairs and clear this with Gina… won’t we?”
Kathy inhaled deeply and finally turned around to face Belinda.
“I guess we will,” she replied.