Happy Endings

Three stories of Angelenos linked linearly by people associated with each are told. In story one, Mamie works as a psychologist at an abortion clinic, she, in addition to providing counseling, assessing mental fitness and thus approving or declining the request by potential patients for the procedure. This job is somewhat ironic as she purportedly aborted a pregnancy when she was seventeen, nineteen years ago. Her stepfather urged her to go through with the pregnancy and give the baby up for adoption, he, now dead, the only person in her personal life who knew that she went through with it. She is approached by Nicky, an aspiring filmmaker, who has proof of her son's identity, said son who threw such information away in no longer wanting to contact her. As his application for a scholarship to the AFI, Nicky wants to make a film on Mamie "discovering" her son. Not wanting to have her story splashed across a movie screen, especially as the biological father is still in her life and doesn't know, while wanting to know the identity of her son which Nicky won't divulge unless she agrees to the documentary, Mamie enlists the help of her masseuse boyfriend, Mexican immigrant Javier, to throw Nicky off the track of her plan of stealing the information from him while helping him with his AFI scholarship submission. Mamie, Nicky and Javier's lives may take a turn as documentaries often take on a life of their own. In story two, Charley, Mamie's stepbrother, who is the biological father of Mamie's child from a very brief sexual relationship they had after her mother and his father married, has grown up to realize his homosexual orientation. Managing the last existing of the chain restaurants he and Mamie inherited from their father, Charley is in a long term relationship with Gil, an architect. They are best friends with Gil's friend from high school, Pam, and her current partner, Diane. Pam and Diane had once asked Gil to be the sperm donor to artificially inseminate Pam, but ultimately they decided to use sperm from a bank instead that resulted in their now two year old son, Max. Sharing his belief with Gil but not the extent to which he is going, Charley is convinced that Pam and Diane did end up using Gil's sperm to father Max without telling them, he going on a quest to discover proof. And in story three, twenty-two year Otis has worked at Charley's restaurant for two years. He also plays in a band. Not the best drummer or backup vocalist, Otis' band-mates keep him in the band as his wealthy father, Frank, provides the band with many of their toys, he spreading his money easily to those in his life. Still in the closet in fearing Frank's disapproval, inexperienced Otis secretly has a crush on Charley. Needing a temporary vocalist, the band ends up hiring Jude, who Otis met performing karaoke at the restaurant. Opportunistic Jude knows the situation into which she is walking, she using Otis' naiveté to get to Frank and his money. —Huggo