[ID: black and white digitally illustrated comic about Vicky and her wife Faye.
Vicky sings on a karaoke stage. She smiles and moves around, her eyes closed. The lyrics are "Cuz babe, you're my whole world. You show me the way. A debt I can never repay. My whole world! My whooole world..." People cheer. She finishes singing, opens her eyes and says "ahem, th-thank you. Goodnight." She looks nervous.
She walks over to the bar and starts talking with Mike, the bartender. Mike says "Pretty good tonight, Vicky. You're good enough to go pro." Vicky replies "You're just saying that, Mike," blushing. Mike says "You callin' me a liar?" Vicky says "I'm calling you a bartender." She looks down in her drink and continues "You're supposed to tell people that they didn't just make a fool out of themselves." Mike says "Oh, really?" He then shouts at the next singer on stage "Yo, Rod! Get off the stage! You're embarrassing yourself." He turns back to Vicky and asks "Believe me now?" She says "I believe you're insane." Mike suggests "But try opening your eyes." Vicky looks away and replies "I used to be able to... But it's so much harder without-" Mike reaches over to refill her drink. Vicky grabs his arm, looking at his watch, and exclaims "Oh God! Is it really that late??" She scrambles off her seat and out the door, saying "I have to go! Where's my purse? Bye Mike!" Mike replies "See you next week."
Vicky is now presenting as a man, in a dress shirt and with short hair. She pulls up her car out the front of a church. She says "Back in men's clothes and still on time... This tie weighs about a thousand pounds..." She looks into the sun visor mirror and sees she's still wearing lipstick. "Oh God!! Oh God!! Oh God!!" she exclaims, and hurries to wipe it off on her shirt sleeve. She rolls her sleeves up to hide the lipstick mark. The song from the karaoke bar starts playing on the radio and she smiles. Faye leans appears besides the car and asks "Is that our song I hear?" Vicky gets out of the car and hugs her tightly, saying "Faye." The two pull away slightly and look at each other adoringly. Faye asks "were you lonely without me?" Vicky replies "Always" Then she asks "How was choir practice?" Faye says "I thought it would never end! The pastor picked this God-awful dirge for Sunday. My fingers were falling asleep on the piano." The two move to get back in the car. Vicky says "Sounds like a blast."
Now in the car, Faye replies "Oh, it is. Ever think of joining back up? I miss my big man's baritone." She touches Vicky's arm playfully. The words 'Big Man' appear as a metal collar tied around Vicky's neck, and scrawled repeatedly in the background. She snaps back to the car and says "Sorry. Work's keeping me busy lately..." Faye says "I know..." They start driving. Faye says "So, our neighbor, Hank? it's his birthday tomorrow. He's having a cookout." Vicky asks "Do we have to go?" Faye says "Do you want Linda's stink eye over the fence every morning." "No..." Vicky replies."
At the neighbor's cook out. The men crowd around the barbeque grill while the women sit at the table. Two men say "Quite a grill you got, Hank!" and "Is that a rotisserie?" Two women say "What recipe did you use, Linda?" "Oh, it's just the simplest thing-" The voices fade into the background as Vicky floats on her back in the pool, singing to herself "My whole world..." Someone shouts "Heads Up!" Vicky splashes into the pool beside Vicky, who smiles at her. Faye asks "How's my social butterfly?" Vicky replies "How long before we can leave?" Fay says "Give it a couple more hours. Then, I'll fake a headache, and you, long-suffering husband-" The word 'husband' briefly appears on a metal collar around Vicky's neck. Faye continues "-that you are, will escort me home, where we can eat dinner in our PJs like the absolute squares we are." Vicky says "This is why I love you. You get me."
Vicky looks over to see Mike the bartender walk into the yard, where he is greeted by Hank. Hank calls "Hey, Mike! Took you long enough to get here, ya fat piece a' crap!" Mike replies "Yeah, yeah, good to see you too cuz." Vicky stands up in a panic, thinking "Mike?! It can't be!" Vicky is startled, and shouts "Hey!"
Vicky leans on the edge of the pool, looking at Mike. The two meet each other's eyes. They are both startled, Mike dropping the cigarette out of his mouth. Faye joins Vicky at the pool side just as she dives underwater, thinking "Ahhhhh!!" Above water, Faye says "Sorry, he's weird today..." Mike says "Uh, no prob."
Vicky sits on her own on a bench under a tree while the men in the foreground ask "A'right, who wants burgers?" "Oh, me!" "Over here!" Mike walks over to where Vicky is sitting, his shadow casting over the ground. He asks "This seat taken?" Vicky says "Uh, no-no!" Mike sits, taking up half the bench while Vicky nervously folds herself smaller. Mike says "Good. Cuz I'm sweating like a fat man in August." Vicky says "mhm. S-so... you know Hank?" Mike says "Yeah. He's my cousin." "Small world..." "Yup." Vicky grips the bench as the world around her darkens, and says "I'm so sorry... I never meant- I mean- Sorry. My real name is-" She extends her hand for Mike to shake. Mike gently lowers her hand and says "I know your name, Vicky." Vicky looks startled then smiles. "Wow. Sounds different here in the real world. And you won't tell-?" She asks. "I'm a bartender," Mike says. "Keeping secrets is part of the job." Vicky wipes a tear from her eye and says "Thanks. More than thanks. If there's anything I can do for you-" Mike says "Actually..."
The pair are in a small rundown theatre called 'The Sapphire.' Mike says "Oh my God, Vicky! Open your eyes!" Vicky stands on stage, presenting as a woman again with long hair. She looks nervous. "S-sorry... again..." Mike assures her, "Don't worry, You're doing great, doll." He turns and shouts to a person in the front row of the audience. "Lolly! Quit being a bitch." Lolly is lounging across the seats. They have a beard and are smoking out of a long cigarette holder. They are wearing high heels, fashion sunglasses, shorts and a hoodie. They raise the sunglasses and shout back "Well damn, Mike! I asked for a singer, and you bring me a pair of chicken legs with stage fright?" Mike says "Calm your tits, she's never been in a real show. And you're too desperate to be picky." Lolly says "hmph." Vicky is gripping the microphone and hiding her face. Mike says "Deep breath, I'll start the take again. Remember, eyes open." Vicky looks up, "Right!" The small speaker crackles the music, before Mike punches it and it starts working.
Vicky's hands tremble on the mic stand. She thinks "Eyes open, eyes open... Just find something to focus on..." She imagines Faye sitting in the audience, thinking "You got this, baby." Vicky blushes, then love hearts appear around her and she starts singing "Baby, did I tell you you're my whole world? My whole world. My whole world." Lolly looks enraptured. Mike says "See, I told you she was-" Lolly throws a hand over his mouth and shushes him.
Narration "And so the journey started... turning my amateur karaoke performance into an actual show. But it meant a lot of late nights I just couldn't explain..." Snippets of scenes as Vicky prepares for the show. Being measured for an outfit by Lolly, singing to Mike in the audience and practicing choreography with Lolly. Vicky arriving home, embarrassed, in men's clothes, to a questioning Faye.
In their home, Faye is pulling clothes out of the washing machine. She sees the lipstick mark on the sleeve of Vicky's dress shirt. She clutches the shirt, trembling, before tossing it behind the washing machine. In the kitchen, she forcefully chops vegetables. She says to herself "And that's a whore's shade if I ever saw one. Calm down. He wouldn't do this to you. But then why does he keep staying out, night after night?!" The rotary landline phone rings and Faye startles. Vicky calls out from another room "I got it! Don't pick up!" Faye reaches for the phone, her hand shaking. She says "If he's got nothing to hide..." She pulls her hand away. "No, no. I'm not that kind of wife. I don't go suspecting my husband for every little-" She hears Vicky say quietly "What time should I come?" She picks up the receiver and hears the person on the other end say "The Sapphire opens at 9:00. But the girls arrive by 8:45." Vicky says "8:45, got it! I'll be there!" Faye looks enraged.
At The Sapphire, a front of house staff member ushers a couple to their seats. They are both femme presenting. Vicky peers out from behind the stage curtains. She is dressed in a tight black dress with a leg slit, and with long hair. Behind the curtains, Vicky says to Mike "You know "The Little Engine That Could"?" Mike says "Yeah?" Vicky grips the curtains, then crouches on the ground, her hands over her head. She says, "I think that story is full of shit! I think that train is dead at the bottom of that stupid hill!" Mike puts a hand on her shoulder and sits down, saying "Hey, now. You're gonna be fine. This ain't the Coca Cabana, ya know? These people are just here to have a good time. You should too." Vicky smiles at him, then her smile and eyes widen as she repeats "Right. Right. Right, right, right." Mike stands again, saying "Just... remember to keep your eyes open." Vicky's face is wobbly and she says "Right..."
On a street at night, Faye waves down a taxi. She says to the driver "The Sapphire." He asks "The theatre on 5th and Ross? Sort of a risque spot of a little lady all alone." Faye frowns and says "Oh, I won't be alone. I'm meeting my husband." The driver says "Aw, that's sweet." Faye continues "So I can punch his teeth in." "Ah..." says the driver.
Back at The Sapphire, a performer exists the stage to cheers of "whoo!" and "Year, Trixie!" Lolly says into the microphone "Yeah, that's right. Clap, bitches. And now, You don't know her, but you already love her- Vicky!" Vicky stands nervously just behind the parted curtains, with Mike standing behind her. She says "Mike... Gimme a push." Mike pushes her and says "Get it, girl." Vicky steps into the spotlight with the microphone.
In the front of house, the staff stand smoking, when Faye slams the door open. A staff member says "Oh! Hey gurl! No need to rush! There's still plenty of seats left-" Faye grabs them roughly by the front of their shirt and shouts "Where is my husband?!" She staff looks panicked, before starting to cry. They say "Are you a cop?! Am I getting arrested?! I can't go to jail!! My parents don't know I work here!"
Back in the auditorium Vicky stands in the spotlight, trembling. She squeezes her eyes shut and thinks "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't-" Her eyes open when she hears a commotion. "Wait, ma'am, you didn't pay for your ticket!" "Shut up before I call your parents!" "Please, no!" She sees Faye elbowing her way through the crowded seats. She exclaims "Faye?!" Faye looks up in shock and the couple stare at each other.
The speaker starts to play static with a 'Bzzt!' Lolly says "Well, shit." Vicky stands, covering her face with her hands. Lolly moves to the microphone and announce, "Looks like we're ending a little early, folks. The crowd boo and say "c'mon man!" They say "Oh shut up, you got your $5's worth! We'll get a new tape player next week, so just-" While they talk, Faye climbs the stairs and opens the lid of the piano keyboard. Vicky removes her hands from her eyes when music starts to play. She looks over and sees Faye playing the piano, looking at her lovingly. Faye sings "Baby, did I tell you you're my whole world?" Vicky smiles and takes the microphone from Lolly. She starts singing directly to Faye, "My whole world." The pair duet together "Baby, you're my whole world." /end ID]
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