Part Five: Questions

[Rick Henry]

It's 9:45 p.m. Karen has just settled down to bed. She's getting an early start tomorrow in order to make it to LAX by ten in the morning.

Karen is lying in her silky lacey bed. Alone with her thoughts and the shadows in the darkness of her room.
"I'm so excited", Karen thinks as she lie there waiting to fall asleep. "but I'm also worried. I'm worried about Richard. He's there in Kansas alone. He really looked beat when I left him. I just hope it's not too late. I hope he's not depressed. Maybe I shouldn't do this solo album. Maybe I need to wait. This could throw Rich into depression and he'll take more pills. I just can't go on and be a success without Richard. It would kill him.
I just don't know what to do. Do I record this album I really want to do it. But I don't want to hurt Richard or upset my mom. And there's my mom. Oh goodness. Why does she complicate things so much? Why, why, why?"

By now Karen is weeping in her bed as she continues thinking on, "Why? Where is the answer? What do I do? Where do I go?"

Karen turned on her side and took in a deep breath.
"Oh dear God," she prays in her mind, "Please help me. I am so confused. My family, my career, my crazy career, the fans, the photographers. The demands, all the noise. Maybe Richard is right. Maybe I do need to go on an extended vacation. Dear God, I am so sorry for the way I treat my mom. I really do want to relate to her better. But I have such a hard time with her. It's almost impossible for me to talk with her without getting into an argument. That's all I want in my life right now, God, is to have a good relationship with my mom."

Karen is slowly drifting off to sleep. Her last conscious thought was back on whether she should record the solo album or not.

[Rick Henry]

It's 11:30 p.m. in New York the next night. Karen and Werner (her attorney) are now settling down with a quick snack at an all night diner. Karen is wearing a brown floppy hat and non prescription glasses to disguise herself.

Werner reminds Karen that they will not be signing any contracts with this visit.
"We're only going to talk details Karen. We're going to throw ideas around. This way both sides can construct an appropriate contract. But at this point nothing will be made official."

"Werner," Karen speaks, "How you feel we need to approach this."

"Karen," Werner answers, "I'm going to make sure that you get a piece of the pie. I will make sure both A&M and Phil Ramone grant you partial ownership of the album."

"That Werner," Karen responds, "sounds like a good plan."

Karen smiles and taps a short rhythm on her water glass with a sXXXXX and shakes her head comically at Werner.

"But seriously Werner," Karen says, "This is a little on the personal side," Karen scoots into the table a little closer to Werner. "Have you ever prayed?" Karen asks, "I mean have you ever prayed to God?"

"When I was a kid my mom used to make us say Grace at the dinner table. And at night we'd say our good night prayer. 'Now I lay me down to sleep...'" Werner said in a cheerful manner.

"No really Werner," Karen playfully slaps him across his shoulder. "Last night I was in bed and it was all going around in my mind. Thinking about Richard alone in Topeka, mom, this crazy rat-race I'm living. I feel lost a lot of the time. Almost like I don't have a grip. It's crazy. The world. It's amazing, it's huge. The entire world knows my name and my voice. Sometimes when I try to put it all together and make sense of it. It gets too big for me. I get to feeling paranoid. I'm afraid. I feel like I'm always being watched. I feel like I'm being followed. And what's scary about that thought is that I'm not too far off the mark to feel this way."

"Hmmm interesting," Werner comments.

"All this was going around in my mind," Karen continues talking. "Getting bigger and bigger. Then all of a sudden I noticed I wasn't just thinking anymore. But I was talking to God. I was crying. I was asking for help, for forgiveness. I was confused about everything and about doing this solo album. And when I woke up this morning. I woke up knowing that going to New York was the right thing to do. I am very happy to be here right now."

[YesterdayOnceMore]

Ah, yes - Divine Intervention.

Excellent touch. And so, so true.
Tim

[Rick Henry]

Thank you Tim for the nice comments. You will find that this story will take several turns in plot and philosophy. I plan on exploring subjects that usually aren't thought of when talking about Karen Carpenter.

[YesterdayOnceMore]

And that's exactly what makes it such an interesting read, Rick! Kudos! Anticipating more..
Tim

[Rob813]

Rick, this is an excellent idea. You've writtten some wonderful fiction. It makes me feel even closer to Karen. I'm looking forward to reading more about this story.

[Rick Henry]

Hi Rob! Thank you very much for the kind words. It's very nice to hear from you!

I do have a few more chapters to this story coming up in the next week or two.

[ps11932]

This is an excellent story unfolding (I know that as I reply much more has been writen but this is as far as I've read so far.) I can see that much heart and thought- and probably some struggle is going into this work and be assured that it is helping many of us in our processes as well.

[carpentersfan]

Grat story ?