Chapter 13
The Comeback
Lillian Bennett huddled in her seat dressed in black. The color was slimming, attractive, a staple in every woman's closet, except when it was the most unwanted time to wear. The woman sat in the pew, stiffed backed, blind to the beauty in the grand building. She had had a brief rise of fame since her impromptu performance at Amanda Revere's review, but she had gone back to her original position as her hometown's drama teacher.
Old friends that she hasn't seen in 30 years had come today, some starlets, others has-beens like her.
If she squinted this funeral home could almost be like a stage.
It was a morbid show. A strange appreciation dedicated for the star on stage, a girl who was dead. Her daughter, her baby girl.
Allison had also gotten wonderful reviews during Amanda's show. Her star was on the up and up, no doubt helped by the aging songstress. It was the least the woman could do in atonement for ruining her mother's career.
Lillian knew she could have bounced back from her disastrous opening day, there had been some offers, but she had trusted in luck and omens and decided to return home with her tail between her legs. That had been a mistake, to give up so easily, but she has her drama students as consolation and as always, her daughter.
Had a daughter.
It was a foolhardy audition for a down on her luck waitress that started Allison on the cigarettes. Then the girl found that more connections could be made hobnobbing with other actors and actresses sucking on the white sticks filled with nicotine during breaks. She got more parts, a bit on a nationally syndicated TV show about angels (if they only knew!). But the cigarettes were an addiction now and a comfort. It was a miracle her voice hadn't suffered, but her lungs did. Lung cancer, the doctor diagnosed. The mother pulled every penny out of her teacher's stipend, even took out loans to pay for her child's chemotherapy and medications, but it was of no use.
A bright star burned out too soon, the brief blurb in variety had said. She could have been great.
Another girl would take her place, one with the same dreams and spunk. Fortune turned her wheel but the mother couldn't stand to bother with the signs. The starlets patted her shoulder as they gave their condolences and shuffled out to their limos quickly after.
Alone, the older woman bitterly mused in her grief. God had caused this. Reunited mother and daughter, gave her a shot, only to take it away cruelly. If the two had never taken the stage at Amanda's review, would her daughter never gone on any farther? Would she had come home, become a teacher, married and had children like her? Would she have lived?
No, Allison was too stubborn. She would have stuck it out for another ten years even if she had to live in an alleyway. At least she had a chance. Better to go out with a bang than decline in a slow whimper, but it didn't help with the pain.
"Please god," the mother prayed, "Watch over the newest soul to join your ranks. She'd be great in the choir."
Okay I have to admit I did not like the actress' singing in this episode, but after doing the research, I found that this was in fact Carol Burnett's real life daughter. Unfortunately Carrie Hamilton died at the age of 38 from brain and lung cancer brought on by smoking so that's where I got the inspiration for this story.