by Doris Miller
It is now evening. The telephone rings inside Aunt Mindy‘s house. Aunt Mindy, an older woman who is Dana and Diane D's grandfather Mike's sister, walks to the telephone. She picks up the receiver. She speaks into the receiver and says, “Hello? .… Who's this? .... Dana? .… Oh Hi Dana! How did everything go in the courtroom? .... Yeah I hear. Your grandfather called me earlier. That's good.”
“Aunt Mindy, I called to let you know that I'm coming over there,” Dana says.
“Oh yeah? You're coming over here? Why would you want to come here Dana? I have no rifles hidden in this house.”
“I didn't ask you that Aunt Mindy. I'm bringing Diane over there.”
“Diane is coming over here?”
“Yeah. She's coming to stay with you again.”
“She's coming to stay with me?”
“Yep. She's coming to stay for a couple of months.”
“For a couple of months?”
“Yeah. She wants to stay in the same room she stayed in before.”
“She does?”
“Yeah.”
“Why? She’s not staying with Michael again?”
“No. His people are coming in from Virginia again and they’re staying at his and Diane’s place again.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah, and Diane doesn’t want to be there while they’re there. She says it will be too crowded for her.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh I don't know Dana, I have tenants living in that same room.”
“What? You got tenants living in that room?”
“Yes I do.”
“Since when did you started renting rooms out Aunt Mindy?”
“Since two weeks ago. Your Uncle Charles and I need the extra money.”
“Oh yeah? What type of tenants do you have there?”
“A foreign couple. A man from Guyana and his wife.”
“A man from Guyana and his wife?”
“Yeah.”
“How long are they planning to live at your place?”
“For a couple of years at least or until they get better on their feet.”
“For a couple of years?! Oh no, they can't stay in your place that long!”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean they better get on their feet right now because they got to go!”
“What do you mean they got to go?”
“Like I said Aunt Mindy, they got to go! Diane is planning to stay there!”
“Dana these tenants are here already! They pay rent!”
“I don't care if they pay rent Aunt Mindy! That was Diane's space before and she wants it back! Those people got to leave! I'm on my way over there!”
“Now wait a minute Dana!” Aunt Mindy hears the phone on the other end go click. “Dana! Dana! Dana!” Aunt Mindy hangs up the telephone receiver and puzzled looks into space.
Around twenty minutes later, Aunt Mindy's husband Charles, an older man, comes in the front door. He closes the front door behind himself. He sighs as he take off his coat. He opens the closet door and hangs up his coat. The doorbell rings. Charles looks through the people. As he opens the front door, Aunt Mindy hurries down the stairs and shouts, “No Charles don't open the door! That's Dana!” Dana barges right into the house as Uncle Charles puzzled looks at her. “Dana!” he says.
“Hey Uncle Charles,” Dana says.
“What are you doing here Dana? There's no rifles hidden here!”
“I'm not looking for any rifles Uncle Charles.” Dana approaches Aunt Mindy and says, “Okay Aunt Mindy, it's time for those tenants to leave.”
“What's going on?” Charles asks.
“Dana called here twenty minutes ago just before you came in,” Aunt Mindy says. “She claims Diane wants to stay in here again! She claims Diane wants to stay in the same bedroom she stayed in before, but I told her we have tenants living there, staying in that same room!”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yes!”
“Listen those people got to go and they got to go now!” Dana shouts.
“Dana, this couple have no other place to go! They have no family in this country! If they get thrown out of here they'll end up on the street!”
“I don't care where they end up, but they got to get out of here!” Dana barges past Aunt Mindy and hurries up the stairs. Aunt Mindy and Uncle Charles hurry after her!
Dana is walking in the upstairs hallway. She heads towards one of the bedroom doors as Aunt Mindy and Uncle Charles hurry behind her. “No Dana don't bother those people,” Uncle Charles say. Dana approaches the bedroom door and turns the doorknob. She tries to open the door, but it is locked. She angrily starts to bang on the door.
“Dana leave these people alone, don't bother them!” Aunt Mindy shouts.
“As soon as they leave out of here, I won't be bothering them!” Dana shouts. She angrily bangs on the door again. The door opens. A middle aged Guyanese man opens the door. Dana looks at the man and barges right into the room!
Dana enters the bedroom. She looks at the man's wife, a middle aged Guyanese woman, who is sitting on the bed. “What's going on?” the Guyanese man asks.
Dana points her finger to the man and tells him, “You, got to leave!”
“Got to leave? What are you talking about?”
“My cousin wants this room back! You got to go!” Dana starts picking up the man and his wife's belongings.
“Hey wait a minute!”
“Dana you can't do that!” Uncle Charles shouts.
“Who is this?” the man’s wife asks.
“This is Dana, our grand niece!”
“Dana, your grand niece?” the Guyanese man asks. “Oh is this the one who just came out of jail with your other grand niece, Diane D?”
“Yes, she's the one. Diane used to stay with us sometimes! She stayed in this very room.”
“Really? Well why can't Diane D stay in another room? There's another bedroom here.”
“She wants this one!” Dana shouts.
“But we live in this bedroom,” the man’s wife says.
“Well you can't live here in this bedroom or house anymore! My cousin is coming here to stay and you two got to go!”
“But where would we go?” the man says. “We have no family here to go to!”
“I don't give a damn where you go! Just get the hell out!”
“Don’t curse at these people Dana!” Charles shouts. “Diane can stay in another room!”
“No Uncle Charles she wants this room!” Dana turns back to the couple and shouts, “You two got to go!” Dana starts picking up the man's belongings again.
Uncle Charles tries to stop Dana and shouts, “No Dana! You can't throw them out!”
“Oh yes I am!” Dana drops the man’s stuff back down and shouts, “I'm gonna go get a moving truck! And when I come back with the truck, I'm gonna have all their things inside of it!” Dana is about to leave the room.
The man grabs onto Dana’s arm and shouts, “Now wait a minute!”
Dana fiercely turns to the guy and swings her arm away from him as the man's wife hurries up towards him with Dana shouting, “Don't put your fuckin hands on me!”
“Why not? You putted your hands on my belongings!”
“You got your belongings in my cousin's space!”
Uncle Charles quickly holds Dana and shouts, “Calm down Dana!”
Dana yells at the guy again and shouts, “Don't ever put your fuckin hands on me! I don't know you, you don't know me, you don't fuckin touch me!”
“Dana calm down!” Aunt Mindy shouts.
Dana turns to Uncle Charles and says, “I'm gonna get a moving truck!”
“And I'm gonna get the police!” the man shouts.
“Go ahead dammit!”
“I will!” The man hurries to a telephone on the night stand as Uncle Charles holds on to Dana and starts to argue with her! The man nervou
sly looks towards Dana then speaks into the phone as Aunt Mindy hurries out the room.
Aunt Mindy hurries into the kitchen and picks up the phone receiver. She quickly dials a number. She anxiously waits for several seconds. She then says, “Hello?! ...... Is Christine or David Brown still there?! Please put them on the phone?! I got to speak to them right away! ..... Okay thanks!” Aunt Mindy waits awhile. She then speaks into the phone again and says, “Hello Christine?! ... Yeah Christine this is me, Aunt Mindy! You have to get here right away! Dana is here!”
“She is?” Christine says from the other end of the phone. “What she doing over there? She's supposed to be here at Gracy and Mike‘s house! We were all wondering where she was, because she disappeared for a while! We asked Diane where Dana was. Diane said Dana went to call you then Diane didn't know where Dana was after that.”
“Well Dana's here!”
“What is she doing over there?”
“She's harassing my tenants!”
“Harassing your tenants?! What do you mean she's harassing your tenants Aunt Mindy? What are you talking about?”
“Dana's trying to throw my tenants out!”
“She what!”
“Yeah! She called here a little while ago and told me Diane is planning to stay with me for a couple of months! She said Diane is planning to stay in the same room she stayed in before, then I told her I have tenants in that room! Then she told me the tenants got to go that she was on her way over! Twenty minutes later, she storms right in here right after Charles came in the house, then barges right up the stairs to these people! She's in the room right now trying to throw them out! Could you and David do something about her Christine?! I mean could you come take care of this one!”
“Sure Aunt Mindy! Put Dana on the phone! I want to have a word with her!”
“Okay.” Aunt Mindy puts the receiver down and hurries away.
At Gracy and Mike’s house, Christine stands behind David as David angrily speaks into the telephone receiver and shouts, “Dana you haven't been out of jail a minute and now you're having another problem? ..... No ‘but Dad’ me! Your Aunt Mindy has tenants there! They pay rent! Now you're just gonna have to accept that and Diane will just have to stay in another bedroom if Diane is gonna stay there!”
“Let me talk to her David,” Christine says. David hands Christine the receiver. Christine speaks into the phone and says, “Now Dana I want you to leave out of your Aunt Mindy's house right now! Leave out of Aunt Mindy's house and leave those tenants alone!”
Two minutes later, Dana comes out the front door of Aunt Mindy’s house. Aunt Mindy and Uncle Charles hurry behind Dana as Dana walks towards the gate. Aunt Mindy then says, “Dana Diane could stay in the other room.”
“No she says she wants that one Aunt Mindy,” Dana says. “Gotta go, Mom and Dad are waiting for me.” Dana angrily walks to her vehicle as Aunt Mindy and Uncle Charles hurry behind her. Aunt Mindy and Uncle Charles stand on the sidewalk as Dana gets inside the car. Dana starts up the engine. She then speeds off as Aunt Mindy and Uncle Charles watch her.
At Gracy and Mike’s house, Diane D is speaking on the telephone saying, “What! I didn't know you and Uncle Charles had tenants there Aunt Mindy! And I didn't expect Dana to go there and go off on you or them! If I knew you and Uncle Charles had tenants there, I wouldn't have suggested to Dana I would come stay there.”
“I know Diane,” Aunt Mindy says. “You can stay in the other room if you want to stay here.”
“Ain't Christian supposed to come home there for a while and stay in the other room?”
“Oh yes that's right. I forgot all about that.”
“That's okay Aunt Mindy. I'll just stay here with Grandma Gracy and Grandpa Mike.”
“You're gonna stay with them again?”
“Yeah.”
“Well what room are you gonna move into and stay in Diane? All the rooms there are taken by the rest of your relatives.”
“I know. I'll just have to move into Dana's room and stay in the room with her again.”
“You're gonna move in the room with Dana again?”
“Yeah. Why not? Listen Aunt Mindy I'm gonna go to my place, pack my stuff so I can I can bring it all to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Talk to you later.”
“Okay Diane. By.”
“By Aunt Mindy.” Diane D hangs up the phone then walks away.
A couple of hours later, a van pulls up to the curb in front of Gracy and Grandpa Mike’s house and stops. Dana comes out of the driver's door.
Diane D, Christine, David, Mary, Barry, Gracy and Grandpa Mike come out of the house.
Dana walks to the back of the van to the back doors.
Diane D and the rest of their family go through the front gate. They walk to the back of the van to where Dana is as Dana unlocks the back doors and opens them. David and Barry bend into the van. They pull out two large suitcases. “Be careful Dad and Uncle David,” Diane D says. “I got valuables in there.”
“Okay Diane,” Barry says. Dana closes the back doors back. She and everyone else walk away from the van and walk towards the front gate. They go through the front gate and walk towards the front door.
They approach the front door. Grandpa Mike opens the front door and they all head into the house.
Chapter 3
Problem At The Dance Studio
