Independence Day, 1976

Laverne's feet hit the ground running as Shirley turned and ran from the bedroom, flinging the clothing onto the floor behind her as she fled.

"Shirl! Shirl! It's not what you think!" Laverne insisted, tying a sheet ripped from the bed around her body.

"You...you...bed..." Shirley stuttered, and when Lenny peeked out of the bedroom door, she howled, "YOU!! What were you...no, why were you....LAVERNE, WHAT HAS COME OVER YOU?!"

Laverne used her free hand to cover her best friend's mouth, "Promise not to yell." Shirley's eyes flared as she screeched against her friend's hand, "Then I'm not gonna let go." Shirley's protests became louder. Laverne sighed, "I can't hold ya like this all day, Shirl."

"I can!" Lenny called from upstairs, as he tried to reach around the threshold and down to the first step, where Shirley had discarded his pants. Anything to stop Shirley from screaming again.

Laverne shook her head, "Shirl!"

Laverne's tone made Shirley stop shrieking. "Gonna stop now?" She asked. Shirley nodded, and Laverne let go of her friend. "Whattre you doing here, Shirl?! I haven't heard from you in almost five months!"

"Five months!" Shirley balked, "I have all of your letters, Laverne, and I meant to answer them, but..."

"...All of that traveling got in the way," Laverne said, almost mockingly, crossing her arms over the top of the sheet to hold it in place. "I'm sorry, Laverne," Shirley said softly, "Walter and I were in Majorca last month, and I started to write, but then I remembered I haven't had anything from you in awhile, and I wanted to wait until we got back to Spain. Then I got all of your letters and I didn't know where to begin and..." All the excuses were so inadequate for Shirley's taste, and she stopped speaking, deciding to ask what was weighing on her mind, "And what were you doing under Lenny?"

Laverne's smile gave away everything, "What did it look like we were doing?" Shirley made another, indescribable voice from the upper register of her vocal chords, her eyes huge, "With LENNY?!" She gasped.

Laverne's face fell a little, "Well, we weren't going to vo-deo-do...."

"Yeah," Lenny added, entering the living room by way of the staircase, dressed once again, "We were gonna vo, maybe with a little deo thrown in....OW!" He whined.

"Don't tell her that!" Laverne snapped, slapping Lenny repeatedly but lightly around the head with her free hand.

"I knew it," Shirley said sadly, crossing the room, leaning against the back of the couch, "Without my guidance, I knew you'd...you'd...WITH LENNY!" She shrieked again, in complete disbelief.

"Shirl," Laverne said, in a quiet, calm voice. She held her left hand up to the light coming in from the balcony.

Something glittered from her left ring finger.

Shirley drew closer to her friend, to the light that gleamed. It was an engagement ring.

"You're..you're getting married?"

Laverne and Lenny just nodded their heads. He wrapped an arm around Laverne's waist, protectively, knowing how much all of this had upset her.

"My best friend's getting married and she didn't even tell me!" Shirley exclaimed out loud, disappointment washing over her.

"I told ya!" Laverne cried, her whole body trembling, "It's in a letter I sent you I put out in the mail this week. I wanted to call; I tried the house in Spain, and the hotel in Munich, where you wrote me, but I couldn't find you." All of the concealed exasperation, anger, and desperation she had felt over the years, from Shirley's leaving with only a goodbye letter to the months filled with sparse communication erupted from Laverne's soul, "I couldn't find ya, Shirl, and a lot of stuff's happened,"

Shirley nodded, "A lot of stuff has happened to me; Todd's going to be twelve, soon, and Walter and I..." She swallowed hard, feeling embarrassed and wanted to confess this to Laverne alone, "Can we go to the beach and talk in private?"

"OK, but it's not gonna be private. It's fourth of July and it's 90 degrees out. Everyone's there." Laverne explained, looking from her fiancé to Shirley, "Will ya let me get dressed?"

Lenny let go of her with a brief kiss to the forehead, "Ya want me to go start the car?"

"You have a car?" Shirley interrupted, still shaken.

"Yeah," Laverne said, "It's not really a car, it's the ice cream truck," She smiled, going back upstairs to change.

"Len?" Shirley asked before he could leave the apartment.

"Yeah, Shirl?"

"How did," She pointed back and forth, between the bedroom and him, "this happen?"

"I don't think Vernie'd want me to tell ya," He said, and with a sympathetic smile, "Hey, when you're done talkin', maybe we could go see Carmine."

Precisely the last thing she wanted to do. Her teeth clenched against a few choice words that she never, never would have said under normal circumstances and waited for her friend to come pick her up.

****

"Beaches never change," Shirley said with a smile, taking in the ocean breezes with a huge smile.

"Huh?" Laverne asked, bending down to pick up a tiny stone that had slipped between her toes.

"I was just talking to myself," Shirley said quickly,

"Anyway, what were you trying to tell me about Walter?"

Shirley bit her lip and dodged a tanned, yelling child running in the opposing direction, "Walter and I are splitting up."

Laverne's face fell, "That's horrible, Shirl!"

Shirley shook her head, "It's not. I don't want to be around him anymore. I had to argue with him for a whole week to come see you."

"The bum," She snarled, "I wish he were here now, I'd.."

"I don't want to talk about him," Shirley said, "I want to talk about everything else, everyone else. What are you doing with Lenny, of all people?!"

Laverne smiled, "That's a short story." She threw the rock into the clear, calm sea, where it skimmed through a person-free space. "Two months ago, I came home from a bad date, and I mean a REALLY bad date; I was crying so hard, and the only person up was Len. We got to talking in the kitchen, about old times, and he asked me why, with all of the guys I've been out with, some of them real big jerks, I hadn't dated him. We'd been through this before, which is what I tell him. So he says to me, 'We have almost everything in common, and neither of us can find anybody to stick around. So why not me?'. And I told him about how I didn't have any feelings, not those sorta feelings, for him. So he says, 'Gimmie a kiss and, if you don't feel anything, I won't mention it again.'"

"And..."

"And we kissed. And I felt somethin," Laverne smiled, almost bashfully, "We started dating, and it just started to make more and more sense. Last week he proposed, and I said yes."

Shirley felt surprise herself. They almost made sense together, those two. She shook her head against the image now burned in her memory of them kissing without shame in Laverne's bed.

"I feel guilty, leaving Len back in the truck." Shirley said.

"Nah, it's OK; he told me he was going to go pick up Squiggy and Francine and take 'em house hunting."

"Squiggy moved in with Francine?"

"He married her."

"WHAT?!"

"In May. I sent you pictures." Laverne looked down, "You didn't miss much. Well, except for Squig declaring himself 'awfully wedded.'"

Shirley almost slapped her forehead. They were probably in the thick envelope she'd sworn to herself would be opened before she left the country.

"How's your father? Is Cowboy Bills still open? Boy, I'd do anything to go and get a big Bronco Burger."

"You can't anymore; it's a health food place; Pop sold it."

"Why?!"

"Didn't you read any of my letters?!" She exclaimed angrily. "Boy, some friend you are, Shirl.."

"What happened?!" Shirley asked, catching her friend's arm as she passed by.

"Pop and Edna got remarried; you know that, that was the last time we talked on the phone. I didn't tell you why, because I knew you'd fly out here, and by then it'd be too late," She took a deep breath, "Edna died, Shirl; she had cancer. When pop found out, he remembered why he loved her all of a sudden, and they got remarried." She was trying to hard not to cry, "I told you in the last letter I sent; I knew you wanted to be here for the funeral, but you never answered!! Cowboy Bills reminded him too much of her, so he sold the place. He works as a councilman now."

"Laverne..."

"You're supposed to be my best friend, Shirl! We've gone through everything together, and then you just abandoned me!" Laverne did shout there, attracting the attention of the surrounding beach patrons.

"Laverne!" Shirley said sharply, grabbing on to and holding close the dearest friend she ever would have, "I'm sorry," She sobbing hard, clutching Laverne as though she were the only solid and true thing left in the world. "I'm sorry..."

She meant, I'm sorry that I let Walter take over my life. . She meant I'm sorry for falling apart, for letting things go this far into disrepair. She meant I'm sorry for the time and the rot and the pain and the sadness.

But instead they just held on as waves lapped their ankles.

****

A few hours later Lenny came to pick them up and return them to Laurel Vista. He didn't remark on the obvious epiphany both women had had on the beach, only lying his hand on Laverne's left knee. He knew not to interfere in their relationship; it was his job to do the exact opposite of Walter. Lenny understood that it would be like being separated from Squiggy by Laverne. He understood without question.

When they arrived at the appartment, a party was already in swing. Rhonda and Squiggy immediately dragged Lenny and Laverne into a game of touch football; Squiggy barely noticed Shirley's presence and Rhonda taking a moment to inform Shirley that pink really wasn't at all her color. Chuck, one of Laverne's co-workers, and someone she'd never met before, asked her a series of bizarre questions before Laverne dragged him away to play scorekeeper. Mr. DeFazio had perked up the most when he saw her, giving her a big hug. He had started a barbecue grill; Francine stood by with a platter of meat, her gum snapping.

I'll talk to him later, Shirley decided. He seemed to be doing well, she mused.

In the center of it all, Shirley smiled from the stairs as her friends frolicked on the lawn. They were all so happy; had done so well. There was only one person missing...

"Hey, Shirley."

Shirley. Not Angelface anymore. Oh, but he hasn't changed a bit; he was a bit heavier, but his legs were still gorgeous. Her heart lurched and sped up while he sat down beside her on the stairs.

"Hi Carmine," She managed around the lump in her throat.

He smiled awkwardly, "Where's Walter?"

"In London. With Toddy."

"Hey, that reminds me, you got pictures of him?" She pulled them out of her purse quickly. Carmine's smile was bittersweet. "He looks like you."

She smiled back at him, tucking the pictures back into her wallet, "How's the girl?"

"What girl?"

"The nameless girl you were dating when we broke up."

He shook his head, "She's long gone. I've been out with hundreds of girls since then. Being an ex-Broadway star makes your black book fatter." She tensed up, and he noticed, "Well, not hundreds. There's no one now, as a matter of fact."

Shirley looked up and out; through the hazy night, which had darkened to black. Her friends played football out in the moonlight. If she closed her eyes tight, erased all memory of Walter, of even Toddy, they could have been out on Knap Street, running through the safety of their neighborhood without a single care in life.

She would lean on Carmine's arm, and he'd walk her home and kiss her on the stoop, calling her "Angelface" again. Laverne would come home from her date with some cop or fireman with a story of semi-smut to tease her with. The boys would barge in, annoying them at one moment, helping the next, and Edna would be there to mother them, and Frank would be there to yell and complain.

Then she opened her eyes, and she knew that world was gone, and it would never return. But this world was wonderful, could be wonderful for them; Mr. DeFazio would work and continue to love his job in the government, and one day he would heal; Lenny and Laverne would get married and give her godchildren to spoil; Squiggy would become a better person, thanks to Francine.

She would divorce Walter and move here with Todd.

Her course of actions were pat and clear; it would happen, she knew now, and that eased her mind instantly. Coquettishly, she turned to him and asked, "Carmine, do you have any units available?"

Before he could answer her, a squawk came from the lawn; Laverne had tackled Rhonda, sending her flying backwards on her rear-end and scoring a touch-down for her team. Rhonda was complaining about the stains on her white shorts, and Laverne was performing an end-zone touchdown dance. Lenny was laughing proudly, and Squiggy was complaining of cheating....And Shirley loved all of them so much that she wanted to give out hugs, even to Squiggy, even to Francine and Chuck.

"Hey, the fireworks are starting!" Shirley cried, watching the first burst of light explode in the air. Her friends ran to join her on the stairs; Mr. DeFazio distributing food and demanding they all eat.

Shirley caught Laverne's eye as she settled between Lenny's knees on the step below her. When Carmine wrapped his arm around her, the smile got bigger.

Laverne winked at her and held out her right friend.

The sky erupted in green, blue and red sparks.

Shirley leaned against her old boyfriend's shoulder and clasped hands with her best friend.

"Lookit these two," Squiggy smirked, refering to Carmine and Shirley, his arms wrapped around Francine, "Some things Never change."