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Continued from previous page…
Kathy stood proudly with her hands on her hips, smiling from ear to ear at the humorous antidote that she had just come up with. No fear whatsoever emanated from her being as she aimed her smile directly towards Gina and her fuming glare. To everyone in the room, it appeared that Kathy was just trying to let Gina know that she did not appreciate the “fan-mail” comment. Jane and Belinda were trying to suppress their laughter for the sake of Gina’s east-coast pride.
“Is that supposed to be funny?” asked Gina with an incredulous look.
“Mmm-hmm,” Kathy returned bluntly. Again, no fear of reprisal was demonstrated.
“Cuz’.. you really amaze me sometimes, Funny Lady… You just think it’s perfectly okay to insult someone any time you want to, don’t you?”
“No, not anyone,” Kathy corrected. “Just you.”
Gina was now so blown-away by Kathy’s bold and brazen nature, she virtually had no response to any of this social torture. Much of her stunned silence was also due to the fact that she didn’t appear to have any allied support from the other two co-conspirators in the room.
Some soothing reassurance was desperately needed.
“Kathy, come on,” coaxed Jane. “Enough already. Leave Gina alone.”
Kathy’s smile was slowly waning as she realized that she might have gone a little too far. Gina was clearly demonstrating that she did not find any of this funny at all. It was up to Jane to come to the rescue and explain a few things.
“Gina.. they only say that because Belinda is the lead singer… It doesn’t mean anything… We all know she isn’t the star of that show… I am.”
Belinda’s satisfied glow and accompanying smile with Jane’s comforting words quickly turned into a serious expression of consternation.
“I’m not the star of that show?” she wondered in silence.
“It’s just a matter of silly semantics,” explained Jane, as she put her arm around Gina’s shoulder in a comforting manner. “Hal Fishman’s just reading off the teleprompter… They have to have some way of telling the story… Don’t let Kathy and her mean-spirited sense of humor get to you.”
Kathy was willing to accept this.
“Yeah, come on, Beanie.. You know what a bitch I am… I’m that way to everyone,” she explained.
“There, ya’ see?” said Jane. “Kathy’s willing to admit what a fucking cunt she is… So now we can get back to the matter of getting the hell out of her dismal house.. and back to somewhere safe for Belinda.”
Kathy rolled her eyes slightly and muttered—
“You don’t have to pile-on, Jane.”
Gina seemed to recover from the occasional cruelty of life rather quickly, as she basked in the glory of love she was now receiving from the group’s Founding Father.
Unfortunately, the occasional cruelty of life would manifest itself in a much different way several seconds later.
“Belinda… You can’t keep running,” Jane announced.
The room fell silent as every participant understood exactly what was happening. Jane’s words couldn’t be more true.
“I know,” Belinda confessed. “I have to call home right now… If Myles really loves me… He’ll believe every word I say… He’ll come to my rescue.”
Unfortunately, she concluded her sentiments with another disturbing tidbit of information—
“But, as far as that other important person in my life is concerned… and I think you all know who I’m talking about… I’m never talking to her ever again… I’m sure you all know that.”
After several seconds of forlorn expressions on the girl’s beaten faces, Kathy’s bold and brazen attitude towards everything under the sun resurfaced again. There was one, unrelenting question that had to be answered in her mind.
“Yeah… Speaking of Myles… Where was this motherfucker all the time you were in the hospital?” she questioned adamantly.
Wow!!! Kathy had done it again!
A universal round of stares and disbelieving faces turned around and focused directly towards Kathy and her sizzling scrutiny.
“What?” asked Belinda.
Kathy could sense the creeping collection of controversy and debate in her line of questioning. Even the brash bassist knew there was a line you didn’t cross when it came to certain human beings; Especially when the subject involved females and their precious husbands.
But Kathy’s skepticism did not come without validity. Belinda was one of the most important things in her life (if not thee) and she was bound and determined to find out why this guy would let her rot in a psychiatric ward for three months. Especially with two young children at home.
“Did he even come and visit you while you were in there?” she asked with nervous trepidation. Belinda was always a loaded firecracker, about ready to explode at any given time.
“Yes, he came to visit me,” she answered back, inching closer to Kathy’s face as she spoke. “He came to visit me every day… You got a problem with that?”
Yes, indeedy… The bottle-rocket was all primed and ready to shoot-off into space.
“No, I don’t have a problem with that,” Kathy answered back as she swallowed. “I’m glad to hear it… It’s just that you never mentioned it before.. and you make it seem like he wasn’t doing enough to support you.. and your needs, that’s all.”
Whew!! Nice recovery, Kath.
Belinda did not say anything immediately, as she got within inches of Kathy’s mug and stopped. She wavered for the next few seconds until she thought of some way to respond to the backtracking brunette.
“He came to visit me every day,” she repeated as she turned away. “I told him that I didn’t need to be in there.. and that I wanted to get out desperately.”
This was some pretty heavy drama that B-Town was laying on everyone. Although it was not expressed vocally at the moment, everyone knew in their collective minds that nothing of this nature had ever been spoken before amongst the group. It was riveting material.
“Why didn’t he let you out?” asked Jane.
“I don’t know,” Belinda lamented. “He kept telling me he wanted to be sure that I was healthy enough and ready to return home… I told him how much I missed our kids… I think he was most concerned about them… That I would be okay to be around them…”
Tears were beginning to well-up in everyone’s eyes as Belinda spoke.
“I told him that I didn’t have a drug problem,” she continued. “I told him that I had everything under control ever since Michael was born… But then he found that bag of coke under the couch… and I couldn’t convince him.”
Jane was apprehensive about bringing up the same question, but felt she had to clear the air once and for all.
“And you’re sure the bag didn’t belong to you?’ she asked.
Belinda saw no point in being angry at Jane for asking this question. She could sense that Jane was just trying to finalize things for the last time.
“No,” Belinda answered quietly, shaking her head. “That bag did not belong to me… I know that for sure… I think we all know how it got there.”
Even though Kathy was scared shitless about broaching such a sensitive issue, her instincts were all about keeping the family together and all in one piece.
“I’m not sure it’s what you think, Belinda.”
The gang all turned their heads in Kathy’s direction. Belinda decided to remain calm as she spoke—
“What’re you saying, Kath?” she asked in an accusatory tone. Belinda awaited anxiously, suspecting that Kathy was actually going to defend Charlotte.
Sure enough, that’s what Kathy did.
“I’m saying that… I don’t think Charlotte planted that bag under your couch.”
Copyright 2025
by Clark Wright