Not quite the end, but wrapping things up, before things get too cute. A quote is from (the) Sybill, back in "Shoe Shopping".

Incidentally, I've never seen Breakfast At Tiffany's.

"Are you sure you've had enough?" Little Rock said as Tal pulled up in front of Circus Circus. He sighed and nodded. Then, as Little Rock stepped out, he saw the group of boys (and a few girls) lining up to look at the car.

"Hey, man," one of the boys called out, "any way I could drive that?"

Tal smiled. "I don't think so... but you can ride."

On the east side of the casino was the KOA campground, where patrons of the casino could pay generously to spend their nights in one of several vintage Airstream trailers (admittedly fitted with DVD players and other non-vintage amenities). It was within one of those trailers that Krista heard her husband's unmistakable, hesitant rapping on the door. "Come in," she almost whimpered.

Austin entered, to find Krista stretched out on a bed, still in her dress, with her mascara badly streaked. She looked at him, and smiled to see him back in his t-shirt and jeans. Their little tree was on the table, and she had the little bear cuddled against one cheek. He sat down, without saying a word. After a long, awkward silence, he said, "We gathered up all your pearls."

"That's good," she rasped, then, after more silence, "Austin... you know that I love that you did this for me. I'm sorry for the way I acted, and I- I'm sorry it didn't work."

"Um... It looks like your mascara is getting on your bear," he said. She looked, and started trying to wipe it off with spit. "Krista... I knew you were going to be disappointed." She stopped and stared at him. "I do pick up quite about people, you know, and this comes down to basics: We build up dreams about what we want, and what we would do if we got it, but we never think about it practically. If we do get it, most of the time, it's a disappointment. I recognized it with you."

"So... why did you do this?"

"Because," he said, "even disappointment can be worth it. And sometimes, there's joy where you weren't expecting it."

She smiled and nodded, wiping her eyes. "It was fun, you know, getting dressed up like this. Even with what happened at THE Steakhouse, I could have just laughed it off. But... I was thinking..." She looked down at the stuffed animal.

"So... who is he?" Austin asked gently.

"I never gave him a name," she said. "I never thought he was real, or pretended he was. But he was a friendly face. I got him on my seventh birthday. It... Before I met my sister, I think it was the happiest day of my life." Austin knew, but never mentioned, that Little Rock was her foster sister, not a sibling by birth.

"It was a gift from my mom... Guess I owe you a story. Mom was a California trust fund baby who ran away with the pool boy. My father died before I was born; at least, that's what she always said. It was only a year before she shacked up with my first stepdad. I think she really liked him, and he was okay. They stayed together till I was six and a half. She got a Nissan in the divorce, and enough money to buy a TV-VCR and a travel trailer... Not like this, oh no; even the original furnishings in here would have been better than we could have afforded. We went on a road trip to Playland when I was about to turn seven, and on the way back, we bought a cheesy little tree and a box of plastic ornaments, and she gave me this bear. Back then, it was going to be just her and me, going wherever fate and funds would take us. And wherever we were, whatever it cost us, we would always have Christmas, and she would always have a present for me. And I would never have to worry about her, because I was already the best Christmas present she could ask for.

"She tried, you know, really hard. The first year went great; she was getting money every month from my great-grandparents, and staying in the same places long enough to get some work and have me go to school. She would find little things to do for me, especially renting movies. That was when I saw Breakfast At Tiffany's, at least five times before she finally bought it. By my eighth birthday, it seemed like things were costing more, but we were still doing okay. But then there were a few months the money came late, and once it didn't come at all. When I was nine, mom had an accident, and to pay for repairs to the car, she sold the trailer. Then she had to spend anything she got just to keep a roof over our heads. She held onto the TV longer than she should have, and I kept watching that movie and talking about how some day, I would be as beautiful and rich as Hep. She had to go into debt, and then she got into men. She wasn't, you know... doing that for the money, but she would throw herself at any man who was willing to share the wealth. Just before I turned ten, she married another guy, Chinese or something, he was in the tech business, looking for a green card. My great-grandparents threatened to cut her off, but she figured he would have money to spare. Then his company went bust. She had to sell the car just to pay off money he owed, and she sold the TV for bus fare to an aunt's house in Lawrence, Kansas.

"We had a new start there, me and her together again, only now we had an aunt and two cousins to stay with. My 11th birthday was almost too good; I don't think there were more than ten of us, but to me it seemed scary crowded. But then Mom started meeting guys again, and the one she liked best was the one who scared my aunt. One day, she picked me up at school in a rental car with what stuff we had in the back, and said we had to go. I never knew what happened, but we drove all the way to Nebraska, and we never saw her aunt or the guy again. She went through several guys, and they just kept getting worse. Right before my 13th birthday, we went to California again, in somebody else's car, and when the car was dropped off, we went to the Playland. She had a crazy wad of cash, and we did everything, without putting a dent in it. Then we flew back to Kansas, and celebrated my birthday at a motel. She got me a beautiful sweater, and we watched that video again. I went to sleep, and in the morning... I was alone. I waited in the room till New Year's- she'd paid in advance, in cash, and still not gone through half the money- but she never came back."

Austin opened his mouth, but she waved him to silence. "Don't say it, Austin. I know she's gone. She's been gone a long time, probably since before I left that motel. All that money, however she got it, it wasn't good, and there's all kinds of ways she could have paid for it. I keep thinking, one way or another, it was for me- not to give me what I really needed, but my Hep dreams. And now I know, none of it could ever mean as much to me as this silly, cheap bear, and it only means anything because she gave it to me!"

Her husband put an arm around her. "Krista... Before I met you, there was one woman I met that I think I could have cared about as much as you. The last thing she said to me, the last thing she ever said, was, `What you will learn, those you love already knew, and those you wish you could ask for forgiveness, already gave it.' I finally started to understand, when I met you." They embraced, and then kissed, and then she squealed as her bear "jumped" onto her head.

"As long as we're here..." Austin said. Krista smiled wickedly, then gave a groaning guffaw as he held up the Breakfast At Tiffany's DVD. "Want to watch a movie?"