HELENA: Let’s just pretend we are European women, they walk like this all the time•or we can just be eccentrics.

SHANE: Or just weirdoes.

HELENA: What age it is when society decides your not weird•but just defines you as "eccentric"?

SYDNEY: i think about the same age they go from calling you "miss" to "m’am."

SHANE: Either one is a label.  You’re not good at titles, I’m not good at labels.

They all laugh and continue walking down the street. 

INT. PEGGY PEABODY’S OFFICE RECEPTION AREA

Syd, smartly dressed in a suit skirt, is sitting in a chair waiting, her legs crossed in front of her.  A male assistant enters.

MALE ASSISTANT: Mrs. Peabody will see you now.

Syd rises and follows the man into Peggy Peabody’s office. Peggy is sitting at her desk signing papers.  She closes the folder when she sees Syd, raises and walks around the desk to great Syd, smiling coldly.

PEGGY (to assistant as she hands him the folder) Thank you Manuel. (continues to Syd as she extends her hand) Dr. Livingston, I presume?

Peggy’s voice is stern but she manages a playful fake chuckle at her own joke.  She returns to her desk chair and points for Syd to sit in the guest chair. Peggy is confident and cordial but has a weary air.

PEGGY: My apologies, I’m certain you hear that lame line frequently.

SYDNEY:  (politely) Let’s just call it vintage humor.

Peggy folds her hands across her desk and gathers her thoughts, maintaining an icy cold smile as she stares at Syd.

PEGGY: So, Syd•may I call you Syd?

SYDNEY: Of course.

PEGGY: (in an obvious power play) And you may call me Mrs. Peabody.

Peggy  retrieves a folder from her desk drawer.  She opens the folder and returns her gaze to Syd as she leans back in the chair.

PEGGY: So you are the woman who has so totally captured my daughter’s imagination…perhaps even her heart?

SYDNEY:  Helena and I are good friends. A plutonic relationship.

PEGGY: By your design, not her’s.

SYDNEY: Mrs. Peabody, I am aware of Helena’s feelings….