Scene: The Back Lot

[BETTY]
T-H-E, E-N-D
I can't believe it, I finished my first script
Shouldn't we open some champagne?

[JOE]
The best I can offer is a stroll to the water cooler at the end of the lot

[BETTY]
Sounds good to me
I love the back lot here
It's all cardboard, all hollow, all phony
All done with mirrors
I think I love it better than any street in the world
I spent my childhood here

[JOE]
What were you?
Child actress?

[BETTY]
No, but my family always expected me to become a great star
I had ten years of dramatic lessons, diction, dancing, everything you could think of
And then, the studio made a test

[JOE]
That is the saddest story I ever heard

[BETTY]
Not at all
I was born two blocks from here
My father was head electrician at the studio until he died
And mother still works in wardrobe

[JOE]
Second generation, huh?

[BETTY]
Third, grandma did stunt work

[JOE]
I guess it is kind of exciting, at that
Oh, finishing a script

[BETTY]
What?

[JOE]
Are you alright?

[BETTY]
Sure

[JOE]
Something's a matter, isn't it?

[BETTY]
I had a telegram from Artie

[JOE]
Is something wrong?

[BETTY]
He wants me to come out to Tennessee
He says it would only cost two dollars to get married in Clinch

[JOE]
What's stopping you?
Now that we finished the script
You're getting married, isn't that what you wanted?

[BETTY]
Not anymore

[JOE]
Don't you love Artie?

[BETTY]
Of course I do
I'm just not in love with him anymore, that's all

[JOE]
Why not? What happened?

[BETTY]
You did