The Death of Donna Whalen

by Michael Winter

  Some parts of the tape were hard to pick out because Donna had the recorder covered over. One part of the tape you hear Donna say what are you doing Sheldon. This is where Sheldon is in the bedroom knocking items off the dresser. He was trying to fix the doily that was on her bureau and he ended up knocking stuff over. He was on something. There was a part about how Sheldon spoke about flowers. Sheldon was thinking about his brother Raymond, Donna said. Sheldon was going to Raymond’s grave with flowers.

  Sheldon had an extra set of keys to the house and Donna wanted to get away from him because she was afraid of him. She used the excuse to Housing that someone had died in her bathtub.

  She told Kim last summer that Sheldon and herself and the kids went to Bowring Park and walked around the park holding hands. This is the only nice thing that Kim knows of that happened between them.

  That Friday night they were talking about relationships, boyfriends, daily life. About violence they’ve been through, and it’s nice to be able to talk about it every once and a while. Sheldon had gone into the kitchen and taken a knife and stabbed it into her coffee table saying that he had done it before and he’d do it again. Donna was serious when she spoke about that. She didnt laugh. It was unusual for them to have a serious conversation. Donna was afraid that Sheldon was going to show up at Kim’s house looking for her. Every time the cat walked by the window or a bag blew by she would jump up thinking it was Sheldon, and Kim kept telling her calm down Sheldon’s gone home, he is gone to bed and sit down relax, have your cup of tea. That didnt help, she kept being jumpy.

  Donna told Kim not to mention the tape to anybody. She didnt want nobody to know about it. She was afraid if Sheldon found out he’d think she was going to use it against him. One week Donna wanted to have babies, next week she wanted to get rid of him. Once you get involved with the Trokes you can’t get rid of them, Donna said. No way out of the relationship, not just Sheldon, with the whole family, the way she put it.

  On Saturday morning Donna’s mother phoned and said, Donna’s dead. Kim didnt know what she was talking about, if she was dead or if someone wanted to beat up on her. So Kim phoned Donna’s house. She left Donna a message. It went along the lines of she was worried about her and asked her to pick up the phone.

  Sheldon Troke phoned Kim that Saturday evening. Was Donna seeing anybody or did Kim know of anything that could help him find out what happened and Kim told him no. Sheldon told Kim that Donna’s daughter, Sharon, thinks he done it.

  Kim has seen Donna with a black eye and a mark over her eyelid and she felt lumps on her head a few times. Donna said Sheldon hit her. She had a black eye, mostly underneath her eye. You wouldnt be able to cover it up. If she put enough foundation on but it would have to be a lot. Donna just said it was a set of keys being flinged at her. Sheldon flung them.

  When Donna was leaving that Friday night she said goodbye, take care of yourself. Donna gave Kim a hug and she left. That was unusual. Donna didnt show emotion very well. They used to be really close, past couple of years they havent been. For her to leave giving her a hug take care of yourself is really strange.

  SHELDON TROKE

  Before Sheldon moved in they used to argue. He was always gone and he used to tell Donna that he done a number of years in jail, and he’d like to get out with his friends and they argued because some mornings he’d leave and didnt come back until three oclock in the morning and some nights he didnt come back at all. He tried to change it and just go to Buckmaster Circle in the daytimes. Everybody comes in the Circle to buy drugs, especially acid. They go downtown to the clubs and to parties. Then Sheldon started going downtown again with his friends and they’d fight over that.

  Sheldon drank like a fish. Donna she’d come to the Circle and hear his friends talking. She got along well with his friends. She laughed and she was curious. How much do hash and acid cost and how much do you sell it for and who do you get it off. They used to argue over that too. Sometimes it was just passing comments in a sarcastic way. Sometimes they’d get loud.

  When he moved in he moved all his clothes in there. He moved the waterbed in. Everything he had.

  One afternoon they were out driving and they hauled into Needs Convenience. They rented a movie for the kids and one for themselves. They got back to the apartment. Donna got a phone call and while she was on the phone she said, Sheldon, there’s a girl in Mount Pearl is having a baby shower. You wouldnt mind if I went in? He found out later it wasnt a baby shower. It was a going-away party for Jacob Parrott.

  Friday morning he was on the chesterfield at Donna’s. Sharon woke him up and said that her grandmother wanted him on the phone. Mrs Whalen asked him was he going to work and Sheldon said yes. I’ll call, she said, when Mister leaves. Sheldon lay down on the chesterfield and went back to sleep. The next thing the youngsters were up and the TV was on. Cory was out in the kitchen having breakfast. Donna was sot in the chair watching TV. Donna was telling Cory to hurry up, the school bus would be soon and he was asking her questions like he do every morning and he went on to school and Sharon went on to school and later on Donna’s mother showed up. They went out in the kitchen and Mrs Whalen yelled out, she said I thought you were given up drinking and Sheldon said it was just this one last time and she started laughing and her and Donna was laughing, telling her mother about the way he was getting on last night. Then she told her about someone out at the back window. Missus asked was he going to go into work. Sheldon said yes he was going to get Donna to give him a run home to get changed and she said, Aw, forget about it, dont go going in today.

  Donna phoned Kim Parrott and she left and went to Kim’s. Donna wasnt gone too long and the phone rang. Sheldon thought it was Donna phoning back so he got up and answered the phone and it was Madeline Ryall looking for Donna. She asked would Donna have a pill for her and Sheldon told her he wouldnt know and she explained what she wanted it for and he told her to call Donna back suppertime. He lay down on the chesterfield again. The phone rang again and this time he didnt answer because Donna’s phone can ring thirty times a day. It was Jacob Parrott. He said the boat is docked. Not long after that the phone rang for the third time. It’s Donna’s mother. When he went to answer the phone, Mrs Whalen was after hanging up. He called her back and she told him Sharon phoned her and Donna never dropped the money off for Sharon at school for dinner and so he told Mrs Whalen if Sharon calls back, tell her to come home for dinner. Sharon come home, she got a cheese sandwich, some juice. After having something to eat she was telling him things about school and she went on back to school.

  It was going for after one when Donna came home. Kim was out in the car. Donna asked who told him about her going to Jacob Parrott’s going-away party and Sheldon said he figured it out for himself. Last night, she said, you told me it was Kim Parrott. Dont mind me when I’m drinking, he said, and Donna said I’m going to go out there and haul the head off her.

  It was common for Donna to move her hands. It’s not Kim’s first time ever seeing her do that.

  She left again with Kim. Sharon come home from school about ten after three, she asked him was it all right to go out around the door. Sheldon said yes, but dont go going far. Donna come back again with bottles of Big 8 and she put them in the fridge and left again. Cory come home and then Sharon wasnt there so he went out around the door looking for Sharon.

  About suppertime Donna showed up. Then Madeline Ryall opened the door and yelled out and Donna was at the top of the steps and Madeline come up and asked Donna about a purse. Donna said to bring it back when she was finished. Who’s going with you, she asked, and Madeline told her and Donna yelled out you’ll be into that next and she said into what? and Donna laughed and said homosexual activity—have a cold one for me.

  The youngsters come in. Donna got their supper. Cory wanted to go back out and play again and Donna told him he couldnt and he got mad. You can go in Sharon’s room and play, she said. Donna was sat down in the living room having a cigarette and then
she got Cory ready for bed. Sharon was in her room doing her homework. Around seven-thirty the phone rang. Donna asked Sheldon to answer the phone. If it’s Jacob Parrott I’m not here, she said. Sheldon said no, I’m not answering the phone. Sharon answered the phone and it was Jacob and Sharon said something about ten-thirty. Donna said she was going to Kim’s. This was about quarter to eight. She left. Around five minutes to nine Sharon come out and asked where her mother was at and Donna was just after hauling up in front of the door. Your mother’s downstairs, Sheldon said. Can I go in and watch TV in Mommy’s room? He said yes.

  Donna asked if Kim phoned. I thought you were into Kim’s, he said. I went into Kim’s, she said, and Kim wasnt home so I went into her mother-in-law’s. That’s the Tessiers. Kim was trying to get ahold of Rod’s father. He had a pickup and there was a load of gyproc in the pickup and the day before this he could not bring out a boxspring and mattress. Donna was getting upset, this was supposed to be there yesterday and here it is, still not here. Sharon come out of her mother’s room and said she was watching the same show they were watching and Donna asked her how she was watching it. In your room, she said, and Donna said I told you not to go in there. Sheldon said, Donna it’s my fault, I didnt know.

  Sharon went on to bed, it was nine-thirty. Donna phoned Kim again and after she finished she phoned her mother. He and Donna were talking about the show on TV. He’d seen it before. There was a commercial come on at ten to ten and he asked Donna for a run home and she said yes, she was going to suggest that. They were over by the bathroom putting on their sneakers and the phone rings and instead of answering it, Donna lets it ring out and then Kim comes on the line. I still never got ahold of Rod’s father, she’s saying. Sheldon with his sneakers on. Donna has her sneakers on. They go down over the steps, Sheldon first. Donna locked the door. They got in the car. They sot there for about a minute and let the car warm up. Sheldon can see the outline of one of the Vivians that was sot on the chesterfield. He thought it was Mister. They left there to go into Sheldon’s house. On the way in, Donna turned her head. She looked over at the club, First City. Sheldon asked her was she going home. She said she didnt know. Sheldon said what about the youngsters and she said Tom Vivian’s going to keep an eye to them. Youre going to lose the youngsters, Sheldon said. And after saying that he realized he shouldnt have said it.

  They kept driving in Kenmount Road and got on Farrell Drive. There’s a left you take and Donna slowed down but she didnt take the turn. What are you doing, he said. I have to see something, she said. They got down a little farther and she slowed again and she looked at a house and they drove down farther and then there’s another turn and she took it and come up around and dropped him off. When he was getting out of the car he said I’ll see you tomorrow.

  She looked at a house. Sheldon pointed it out to a police officer, on the side of the road going down.

  As he was walking in he didnt look back but Donna was driving away. He took off his jacket and sneakers and walked in the hall and looked in the living room and asked his parents what they were doing and they were watching JFK. He went in and rolled a cigarette. He was talking about the JFK. His father got a phone call and so when Sheldon finished the cigarette he went back out and got a glass of birch beer. He drank that and started walking by the hallway and said good night to his mother and she asked if he had work in the morning and he said yes, and he went up and got in bed and went to sleep. That was Friday night.

  KIM PARROTT

  Donna and Sheldon had an argument on the way in the road. It started off with Donna slowing down in front of First City, looking for a car, giving some kind of impression that she was going there after she dropped him off. Donna told Kim she had done this to tease him. Sheldon said if she didnt watch out she might lose the children. Donna left them alone a lot, Kim would call there and Sharon might answer and say Mom wasnt home. When Donna was at Kim’s house she’d phone home and talk to Sharon. Kim doesnt make no phone calls to anybody’s house after ten, she thinks it’s very ignorant. But she’d call in the early evening, and Donna was out the majority of times.

  Madeline Ryall’s a fortune teller. Madeline told Donna she was going to have two more children, but it wasnt with Sheldon Troke. She give Madeline pills. Donna got whacked out on pills herself. Kim warned her a few times dont come to my house in that kind of state, it’s not good for the children to see. Donna tried to stay away when she was on too many. Talking to her on the phone it was really hard to understand her. She was afraid of the Trokes. The Trokes make you nervous. Every time Kim would go for a walk, she’d see one of them or she sits on her step and they drive up and down the road. They werent harassing her or anything, they were just going on with their regular lively routine. But constantly seeing the Trokes bothered her.

  BERTHA TROKE

  A few times when her son was drunk he used to phone Donna and Donna would hang up on him and he’d phone her again and she’d hang up on him again and he’d be mad about that. There’d be no conversation because just as he go and say Donna she’d hang up and she’d keep hanging up on him.

  Donna was at court watching a trial and Bertha Troke was there. They had a twenty-minute recess. Donna said to Bertha that her and Sheldon were no longer going out together and Sheldon was a boarder and Bertha was stunned. In order to gain her mother’s friendship, Donna said, she had to get Sheldon out of her life because her mother—that’s Agnes—thought more about Sheldon than she did of her. Donna was getting on with her life and Bertha said to her sure youre out every night and Sheldon is babysitting. Donna thought about that. I am gone every night aint I. She said that’s a sin I’m going to stay home tonight. Then she said well Sheldon dont go out anyway because he goes to work in the morning and when I gets home in the nighttime Sheldon dont ask me where I’m at and if he’s asleep the next day he dont ask what time I got home. She looked at Bertha. Youre mad with me now arent you? And Bertha said Donna I’m not mad, why would I be mad with you? But what about the two babies you were going to have?

  She mentioned there was a guy at the Health Science and he had a tumour on the brain, Bertha doesnt know his name. She used to go visit him frequent and Sheldon used to babysit for her to go in. She used to go with him. Sheldon even gave Donna money to bring him in stuff.

  ALBERT CANNING

  Albert had a relationship with Donna Whalen in Grand Falls six years ago. Donna was taking a course at the trade school and staying with her aunt Edie. Albert went out with her for nine months. She was the only lady that he was seeing at the time. They shared both his house and her aunt’s house. They were together quite often.

  He doesnt know Sheldon Troke. Never met him or spoken to him.

  Albert visited Donna in St John’s. He didnt come to town very often, once or twice maybe.

  The only thing he recalls of Donna using was diet pills.

  Albert experienced a grand mal seizure and was at the Grand Falls Hospital for five days. He was transferred by ambulance to the Health Sciences Complex and underwent some tests and was diagnosed with a brain tumour. He was in hospital four and a half months.

  Donna visited. Three or four times, five at the most. She told him she was seeing some guy by the name of Sheldon. That was pretty well it. She used to visit Sheldon in jail. Sheldon was aware of her visits to the hospital. The visits were no more than a half-hour, forty-five minutes. Donna’s mother was on the next floor. She’d visit her mother Agnes and come up and see Albert or he’d be down visiting her mother and she’d come in.

  Just after her mother was discharged the visits stopped. Albert underwent thirty-five treatments of radiotherapy. He lost some of his hair. He was taking steroids and that made him put on a bit of weight.

  He visited Donna once at her apartment after that, but she wasnt home. Her aunt Edie was there. He had a cup of tea with Edie. The house was very tidy and clean. Donna was that way. Donna wouldnt be the type to leave a pair of rubber gloves on the kitchen floor. She was a
pretty organized lady. She was a smoker when Albert saw her but not a heavy drinker. Occasionally they’d go out to a club, but Donna was not the type of person to get drunk. She was seeing a doctor, a Dr Galgay.

  HUBERT GALGAY

  Donna Whalen was a patient since she was thirteen. Dr Galgay saw her through her first pregnancy and delivered her first child. She was a healthy person. The last time he saw her she was fairly distraught about some housing problems and things with her kids, but the main reason for her distress was her relationship with Sheldon Troke. The relationship had been on shaky grounds for a number of years and now she was quite worried about her safety. Her mother, Agnes Whalen, seemed to downplay Donna’s concerns about the whole issue. Donna was trying to terminate the relationship. Sheldon did not agree. It was the source of a fair number of unpleasant scenes—he was aggressive and menacing, especially when he was drinking. He said the next time she tried to get away from him she wouldnt be leaving under her own steam. She was afraid that he would knock her about.

  Donna was a stoic person. She didnt display a lot of emotion. But this time she was worried. Sheldon showed up at her apartment enraged. Voices were raised and Sheldon threatened.

  There wasnt a play area for her son at Donna’s place, and Cory’s a fairly active kid. He tends to wander off at times. A previous occupant of her apartment had died in the bathtub from a seizure and drowned and this spooked her.

  In the last going-off she mentioned that her moving house would give her an opportunity to get away from Sheldon and terminate the relationship by that means.

  Dr Galgay knew that she had seen other doctors in the city to obtain prescriptions for codeine, valium, cough mixtures, diet pills. She was also using hashish.

  Donna was fairly stable. She wasnt weepy but frustrated. Things were in the works as far as the housing authorities, and she was hoping to make a complete break with Sheldon. He had pushed her against the wall during a heated discussion after which he went to his parole officer.