Tarnished Armor
Part 107

 

Belinda’s apartment.

All of the kitchen cabinets are open. Cans of food are scattered everywhere.

Liza is rifling through Belinda’s bookshelves.

Belinda comes out of her room.

Belinda: Liza!

Liza turns briefly towards Belinda, and then keeps removing books.

Belinda: Hey!

Belinda goes over to Liza and turns her around.

Belinda: What are you doing?

Liza: Leave me alone.

Belinda: This is my home, Liza, not yours. If you can’t respect that, then you’d better get out.

Liza: Fine.

Liza goes over and grabs her purse.

Belinda: You don’t get to come into my home and trash it.

Liza reaches into her purse and takes out her wallet. She pulls out a couple of hundreds and holds them out to Belinda.

Liza: I think this should cover everything.

Belinda: You think money will fix this?

Liza: Why not?

Belinda: You have to ask? Look at yourself.

Liza lets the money drop on the floor and goes to the front door.

Belinda: No, you don’t!

Liza turns the doorknob.

Belinda: You spoiled brat! Go ahead, keep on doing your poor imitation of Marian. I know how much you admire your mother.

Liza’s hand falls to her side.

Belinda: You walk out of that door and you’re nothing but a selfish, heartless, unthinking witch who’s a poor excuse for a human being.

Liza: Are you talking about me, Belinda? Or Rose?

Belinda begins to cry.

Liza reaches for the doorknob again. She opens the door and leaves.

Belinda begins to pick up a few books, and then sits down on the floor. She brushes her tears away with her hand. Then she turns to face the bookshelves again.

She gathers some books into a pile and places them back on a bookshelf. She shifts the books around.

Liza: I’d put that under “D.”

Belinda looks up to see Liza standing above her.

Liza: Some people would choose “E,” and I think that’s completely incorrect. Most people would do what you’re doing and put it under “S.” But his last name is really “de Saint Exupery.” And I know that “de” is not the official start of his last name, but I don’t like to ignore the fact that it’s there.

Liza takes the book from Belinda’s hand and places it up where the “D’s” belong.

Then she sits on the floor next to Belinda and begins to gather the other strewn books.

Belinda watches her.

Liza carefully lines the books up two inches from the edge of the shelf.

Liza: I’m sorry about the mess. I’ll fix it.

Belinda doesn’t answer.

Liza picks up a book and notices that the cover is now bent. She tries to straighten it out.

Liza: I don’t think I can ... it won’t ...

Liza begins to cry.

Liza: I didn’t mean to ruin it.

Belinda turns to Liza and speaks softly.

Belinda: I know what you were doing.

Liza doesn’t look at Belinda.

Belinda: You were looking for alcohol. I removed all of it last night, while you were sleeping.

Belinda takes the book from Liza’s hands.

Belinda: I never really liked that book.

Liza: I shouldn’t have said anything about Rose. That was unforgiv...

Liza’s voice trails off. Then she looks at Belinda.

Liza: I’m sorry. I’ll make it up to you. I don’t know how. But I’ll try.

Belinda doesn’t answer.

Liza: I know I must seem horrible to you right now. I just... I just don’t know what to do.

Belinda gets up.

She walks over to the kitchen and leans against the counter.

Belinda: Any relationship you have involves at least two people, Liza. If it becomes all about one person, then there really isn’t any point to it, is there? I’m not saying that one person won’t need the other more, at certain times. But I am saying that each person has to realize that the other one is there.

Liza: Respect.

Belinda: Yes. And understanding.

Liza walks over to Belinda.

Liza: Have I ruined everything? Not in the apartment, I mean with us.

Belinda puts a few cans back in the cabinets. Then she turns to face Liza.

Belinda: No. We’re friends. And you can stay here as long as you like. But there are ground rules. I know how much you hate following rules, so I’ll keep it simple. Number one, the drinking binge ends now. I’m not going to go into all of the reasons now, but I can honestly tell you that I will never sit around and let someone destroy herself in front of me. And I won’t keep putting her back together either. Number two, you are going to clean up this entire apartment by yourself. And number three, if you finish the orange juice, you’d better make sure that you replace it before I go to drink some. Can you live with that?

Liza: What about milk?

Belinda: Let’s make milk number four. And add coffee in for good measure.

Liza: Okay.

Belinda: Okay for the coffee? Or okay for all of the rules?

Liza: All of the rules.

Belinda: Good.

Liza’s eyes fill with tears and she smiles.

Liza: Do you have somewhere to go for the next few hours? I have a lot of work to do.

Belinda: I think I can manage that.

Liza: Okay.

Liza begins to put the rest of the cans back into the cabinets.

Belinda goes to the closet and gets her coat. She opens the door.

Liza: Belinda?

Belinda turns back around. Liza keeps putting things back into the cabinets.

Liza: Thank you.

Belinda hesitates for a moment, and then leaves.

 
Tarnished Armor Index
Part One Hundred and Six
Part One Hundred and Eight