Norman Oklahoma, 1965
"Betty c'mon can you put on The Beatles now? I've just sat through two Leslie records." Anna whines as Betty's hand reaches out for her Girl Talk record.
"My room, my records." she responds smugly pulling her record of choice off of the shelf.
"Yeah," Anna scoffs "we sure would've had a riot if you came to mine, my parents would of made us sleep by now."
She ain't wrong, Betty doesn't dislike Mrs and Mr Campbell as much as Linda does but they sure are strict.
"Please Bet, you know I didn't risk sneaking it out of mine and Connie's room for nothing." Anna says as if she's stolen gin from her dads liquor cupboard not a Hard Day's Night record from her own bedroom that her and her little sister share.
Betty laughs "sure." She doesn't like the Beatles all that much, Betty's not sure how Anna or anyone could fine those bowl cuts attractive, she could sit through their songs though. She's not too picky when it comes to music.
Anna grins and practically skips over to the record player, she cautiously pulls the record out of the sleeve and carefully sets it in place on the platter.
And I Love Her plays softly in the background as they go to sit on the rug by Betty's bed. Anna plucks a blue-green bottle out of the pile nail polish at their feet and holds it up to Betty. "I think I'm gonna do the green, you think it'll look good?"
"Yeah, it'll match real well with your green sweater you should wear that to school this week," Betty replies smiling, she knew Anna'd wanna borrow that colour when her mom bought it for herself last summer. "Plus, green complements your eyes." She'd always loved Anna's bright green eyes; Betty reckoned her grey-blue ones paled in comparison.
"Yeah, your right," Anna replies brightly "you gonna do the lilac?"
She was mulling over the lilac and the unopened coral she ought not to have purchased last week at the drugstore. She was way too pale for it.
"Yeah," she says discarding the coral. "it'll go nice with my headband."
Betty's half way through the nails of her right hand when there's loud knocking at the front door. The sound makes Anna jump causing her to almost spill some polish on the carpet. She manages to catch the bottle with her hand as Betty dives for the paper towels on her bed. Her mom was more laid back than Anna's folks but definitely wouldn't approve of them painting their nails bare on the carpet.
"Glory, who's come here at this time." Anna remarks wiping the spilt polish from her hand.
"Maybe my mom finished early and lost her key." Betty voices the only explanation she can think of for someone knocking on her door at 11:30pm as she screws the lid back on her nail polish.
"Or, Maybe it's a Missionary." She adds with a grin.
"Shoot," Anna laughs at her reference to the young man they had encountered at her front door last week promising them eternal happiness if they just signed up for the church of 'Latter Day Saints'. Fat chance, 'elder Jimmy'. "They probably sleep earlier than my parents."
The nail painting session is paused as they head downstairs.
"Is that a cop car?"
Betty's head snaps up to look at the front window, sure enough a cop car is parked on her driveway. "Shoot, why would a cop be here, do you think something happened?" she asks worriedly.
"Nah," Anna reassures "Probably just a disturbance nearby and they want to ask if you saw anything."
That stops her heart racing, Betty didn't live in the nicest neighbourhood in town and something easily could've happened to involve cops. Anna always could calm her down, she'd stop her nerves before a math test she was so sure she was gonna fail and could dissipate some of her anger if she was real hacked off about something.
There's a second string of loud knocking as they reach the bottom of the stairs.
"I'll answer it." Anna says as her hand reaches for the doorknob.
They're greeted by a short middle-aged cop with a sullen look on his face as he stands awkwardly in the doorway. "Uh, are you Elizabeth Parker?" he asks aiming the question at Anna.
Betty's heartbeat quickens at that, she feels herself getting warm. Crap. Why does he wanna talk to her.
"No sir, I'm her friend Anna Campbell, this is Betty, uh, Elizabeth." Anna says turning to point at her.
She inches closer to Betty as the cop turns to look in her direction.
"Hello Betty." he says attempting to greet her with a pleasant expression, but his hidden grimace prevents him from calming her racing heartbeat any.
"Hi." Her voice is barely above a whisper and she is unable to look him in the eyes.
"I'm afraid there's been an accident honey."
Oh god. Betty really feels even warmer as her palms begin sweating "what kind of accident?" her voice wavers as she asks.
She would usually chastise herself for talking like a coward instead of a normal person, but she can give herself a pass for being nervous in this situation.
"Your mother honey she- she was shot at Princes hospital tonight. she didn't make it honey I'm so sorry."
Betty's ears are fill with piercing white noise as she stares at him. She can't be dead she saw her mom not 3 hours ago. She said goodbye to her and Anna on her way out to a night shift.
"bye girls, I'll see you tomorrow or tonight if you two are still up" she'd said in mocking disapproval
"Bye Mrs Parker" Anna cheerfully chorused with a wave.
"Bye Mom see you tonight" she'd said with a laugh knowing they could well be up the whole night.
Anna's pulling her into a hug, something she rarely does - they've both never been huggers - as the noise in her ears subsides.
"She's dead?" her question's muffled from her face being pressed into Anna's sweater.
"Yeah, I'm afraid she is honey."
Betty's eyes well up quickly as she attempts to breath but it's as if her throats closing and there's no hole for her to breath out of.
"Are- are you sure it was her mom?" Anna asks the cop in a panicked tone as she rubs Betty's back.
"Yes-"
"Really, a lot of people work there maybe it was-" her friend continues.
Betty's can barely breath at this point, she's crying and sobs are trying to escape her body but they're stuck in her throat.
"Look girls I am incredibly sorry for your loss and I know you don't want to believe it right now but it's true. A close colleague has identified your mother, Betty."
A large sob finally escapes her throat, and they continue racking her body. Anna's taking shaky breaths, trying to control her own tears Betty's sure, as she rubs her back. For a few minutes they all stand there, the front door still open as Betty's sobs echo throughout the house and probably travel down her whole street.
"How did she get shot they have security there?" She demands suddenly, turning herself around in Anna's embrace to face the cop as rage flares up inside her, something that often seems to happen to her in moments of distress.
"And how'd she die at a damn hospital full of doctors?" Betty spit out a second questiob before he can even respond to the first.
The cop sighs rubbing the back of his neck. "Look, your mother she - the bullet hit her head. she died almost instantly".
"Jesus Christ" Anna whispers tearfully. Her expression as close as the redhead ever gets to cursing.
Betty chocks on another sob. That holy fucker sure is playing a cruel trick on her if he's up there.
The cop guides her and Anna towards the couch as he lets himself in and shuts the front door. Betty sits down, still in Anna's arms, sobbing for a good while as Anna takes shaky breaths still trying to stop her own tears and be strong for friend. At some point the cop retreats to the kitchen to get them glasses of water.
After a few minutes he speaks to them again.
"Your moms colleague told me you don't currently live with your father." He begins softly" If you give me his number, I can get into contact with him for you."
"I don't need him to know." Betty replies in a tone that's more than a little rude. Anna rubs her back at that point, she's the politest person she knows but she doubts her friend is judging her anger tonight, especially when it's really directed at her father. she sure as hell doesn't wanna talk to him about this. She hadn't seen him in about 6 years. Her lack of presence in his life clearly didn't bother him none being as he had not once attempted to contact her, to say happy birthday or anything. The lack of asking hurt but not a whole lot if she's honest. The last time Betty'd stayed with him was 6 months after his wife had died and he'd been unpleasant for lack of better words. Her dad had always been her second favourite parent but that summer he'd been a lot worse than usual. He rarely sent the welfare checks anymore while her mom worked like a damn dog at that hospital.
"Betty doesn't speak to her dad all that much" Anna clarified for the cop, a polite way for her to put it.
"Well, we're going to need to get into contact with him, your only sixteen Betty."
She's well aware of her age. thank you very much.
But Betty knows exactly what he means by that statement.
Her mom's dead. She and her dad didn't ever get married, nor had she remarried someone else it was just the two of them. Betty had her grandma in Missouri who she loved dearly but her arthritis was bothering her so bad these days she ought to have been in a care home. No way would anyone with a lick of sense would let Betty stay with her. No sireee bob, as Anna's dad would say when she tried to raise her curfew.
Betty was screwed. Alone and under eighteen, her estranged father David Randle now being legally responsible for her.