“Bette, everything’s fine.”

Bette continued rambling, “Don’t we need visas?  What will we do in our down time?”

“Slow down.”

“But…”

“Babe,” Tina grabbed Bette’s hand.  “Look at me.”

Bette cooperated.

“It’s fine.  I planned everything.  My assistant handled the details with help from the studio’s travel department.  If the travel department can move production crews for movies, they can arrange our trip.”

Bette took a few cleansing breaths as Tina squeezed her hand.  However, the agitation returned as Bette had another thought, “We need shots!”

“The cab’s stopping at the studio doctor’s office.”

Bette nodded, and tried to calm herself.

######

Now, on the plane enroute to Hong Kong, Bette wondered if the CAC would make her fly coach.  She also tried to put some order to her prior day and what Tina has planned for them for the next few weeks. Bette moved quietly so that she could see her watch’s face.  She was amazed that she had locked her gallery’s doors for the last time only 14 hours earlier.  To her, it seemed like days ago.  She looked over at Tina and smiled at the woman who knew her so well, who knew that a trip away was the perfect way to ease her grief.

Tina had a business meeting in Hong Kong with a local production company with which Alphaville  hoped to partner for several films for joint Asian and North American release.  On the day that they would land, Tina had a prep meeting with the Asia-based Alphaville group and her big meeting would be the next day.  Tina had also volunteered to check out some filming locations near Beijing when the meetings were done.  Both trips would take ten days, with large blocks of free time.

Tina had also planned additional stops and Bette wasn’t sure she could be away for so long.  The directorship of the CAC was unlike anything she had undertaken.  She had the utmost confidence in her talents for displaying artworks and discovering new artists.

However, she was virginal about fundraising and answering to a large board of directors.

Before she had interviewed for the position, she had had James get profiles for all of the board members.  She had been surprised to find that, for most of them, their only interest in art seemed to be their membership, garnered after relatively small donations, on the CAC’s board.  There were a few art collectors in the group but most seemed to be collecting board memberships rather than artworks.  She concluded that, for them, the CAC board was a stepping stone to more important boards.  Bette wasn’t sure if that translated into docility or philistinism.  She imagined she would soon find out.