by Doris Miller
The following day, the entire Diaz-Davidson Organization is at the organization standing in the hallway. Diane D turns to Mary and Barry and says, “Mom, Dad, I'm gonna call Grandma Gracy right now and let her knowing I'm bringing the girls over there to stay with us for a week again.”
“Okay Diane,” Mary says.
Diane D turns away and goes to the side. She takes out her cell phone. She dials a number on her cell phone. She puts the cell phone to her ear and says, “Hello Grandma?”
“Hey Diane,” Gracy says. “How's everything baby?”
“Everything's fine Grandma. Listen Grandma I'm bringing all the girls over there to spend a week at our place again because we all got to rehearse at the other dance studio closer to where you live. We're gonna practice at that dance studio for the next few days.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. Gordon’s dance studio is booked for the next few weeks so we‘re going to rehears at his other dance studio location.”
“Oh yeah? Okay Diane, bring the girls over. I might as well put the extra beds back into Dana's room, huh?”
“Yeah. We'll be there in a few hours because the girls have to pack their belongings again. We'll see you in a little bit okay?”
“Okay Diane. I'll be here.”
“Okay Grandma. Bye.” Diane D hangs her cell phone and hurries away.
Three hours later, Diane D comes into the front door of Gracy and Grandpa Mike’s house as the Dianettes, Michael, Mary and Barry follow her inside with the Dianettes as Michael and Barry carrying some luggage. Barry closes the door behind himself as Diane D looks up the staircase and shouts, “Grandma, Grandpa we're here!”
Gracy comes down the stairs and says, “Hey everybody! Hi girls.”
“Hey Grandma Gracy,” the Dianettes say.
“Hey Mom,” Mary and Barry say. Gracy smiles and gives the Dianettes a warm hug as Michael, Mary and Barry give her hugs too. “Where's Dad?” Barry asks.
“Oh he's upstairs,” Gracy says. “Why don't you all go up stairs and freshen up for dinner.”
“Okay Grandma,” Diane D says. She turns to the Dianettes and says, “Come on girls!” Diane D goes up the stairs as the Dianettes follow up behind her. Gracy and Mary follow up behind the Dianettes. Michael and Barry follow up behind Gracy and Mary with the luggage.
The next day, Michael, Tomas, Mary, Barry, Tonio and Gordon are sitting inside the dance studio office drinking coffee. Diane D and Jack enter the office with Diane D holding a large sheet of paper in her hand. Everyone turns to them as Gordon asks, “So how is everything going?”
“Everything is going fine Gordon,” Diane D says.
“Good. How are the Dianettes and the dancers from the Norton School getting along so far?”
“Well we haven't started rehearsing yet.”
“No? Alright we'll give it some time.” Gordon turns to the side and grabs a pot of coffee. He turns to Mary, Barry, Michael, Tomas and Tonio and asks, “Would you all like some more coffee?”
“More coffee sounds great,” Tonio says.
“Okay.” Gordon turns to Diane D and Jack and asks, “How about you two Jack and Diane? Would you two like some coffee?”
“Yeah I can use a cup,” Diane D says.
“So could I,” Jack says.
“Okay,” Gordon says. Gordon gets up and goes to the back.
Diane D and Jack approach Mary and Barry as Diane D tells them, “Hey Mom, Dad, check this out.” Diane D shows Mary and Barry the large sheet of paper with twenty sets of shoe prints formed in a dance pattern. “How do y'all like these dance step patterns Jack and I created? We're gonna have these dance steps for everybody.”
“Wow, that looks nice Diane,” Barry says.
“It does,” Mary says.
“So y'all think we can do this routine at our next performance?” Diane D says.
“I don't see why not. That looks real nice.”
Gordon comes back to the front with a pot of more coffee. Suddenly Horace and a beautiful dark-skinned black female dancer named Cheryl come bursting into the room as Horace shouts, “I'm quitting!”
“So am I!” Cheryl shouts.
“What!” everyone else in the room shouts as they look at Horace and the Cheryl stunned.
Mary and Barry get up out of their seats and approach Horace and Cheryl as Barry asks, “What do you mean you‘re quitting?”
“We're outta here, that‘s what I mean!” Horace shouts.
“Why?!” Gordon asks. “What's going on?!”
“The Dianettes don't want to rehearse with us! They keep saying they don't want me for their partner!”
“What!” everyone says.
“They don’t want you for a partner?” Gordon asks.
“That‘s what they said!” Horace says.
“Don't tell me that the girls are at it again!” Mary shouts.
“Yes they are! They keep fussing with Miss Margarita, telling her that I smell bad and none of them want me for their partner!”
“They're claiming that you smell bad?” Michael asks.
“Yeah!”
“They told me they don't want me on stage with them!” Cheryl shouts.
“What!” Mary shouts. “They told you they don't want you on stage with them?!”
“Yeah!”
“When the Dianettes all had to choose a male dance partner, they all skipped and bypassed me!” Horace shouts. “After a while, it was only two male dancers left, me and Leonard! When the last two Dianettes had to choose between me and Leonard, they both chose Leonard! Then they got into an argument with each other and told the other they got Leonard and the other got the smelly one for their partner!”
“What!” everybody says.
“Yeah! So Miss Margarita told them both that one of them is going to have me for a partner whether they like it or not! Then they started fussing and complaining to Miss Margarita that if they have to have me for a partner, they weren't gonna participate! Then Miss Margarita told them none of them is gonna have Leonard, Cheryl is gonna have him! Then they both gave Cheryl a dirty look. Then they got mad at her and told her they didn't want her performing on stage with them!”
“What!” Mary shouts. “You know this is way out of line! Which two of the girls were giving you two problems?”
“The last two that had to do the picks!”
“Do you know their names?” Barry asks.
“I think one is Nancy and the other one is Lonna!”
“Nancy and Lonna?”
“Yeah that's right,” Cheryl says. “Their names are Nancy and Lonna.”
“Are you sure it was those two, Nancy and Lonna?” Mary says. “Because Barry and I are gonna have a talk with them right now!”
“Yeah we're sure it was those two. They're fussing with Miss Margarita right now.”
“Alright we'll go take care of them.”
“I'll come with you Mom,” Diane D says.
“No that's okay Diane. Stay here with Horace and Cheryl until we come back.” Mary and Barry angrily head to the door as Gordon and Jack follow them.
Mary, Barry, Gordon and Jack look over the balcony of the dance studio looking down at the dance floor across the large room and are stunned to find Nancy and Lonna fussing with the dancers from the Norton School as Margarita try to calm them down. Mary starts to call out, “Lonna!”
“Nancy!” Barry shouts.
Lonna and Nancy do not hear Mary and Barry calling out to them as they and the rest of the Dianettes continue to fuss with the dancers from the Norton School.
“Nancy!” Mary calls out.
“Lonna!” Barry calls out.
“Lonna!” Mary calls out. “Nancy!”
“Nancy!” Barry calls out. “Lonna!”
Down on the dance floor, Nancy gets frustrated and walks away from Margarita. Margarita shouts to her, “A donde vas Nancy?! Vuelve aqui!”
Nancy angrily waves her hands t
owards Margarita and shouts, “I'm not dancing with no funky Romeo!”
Mary, Barry, Gordon and Jack continue to be on the balcony as Mary and Barry call out, “Nancy! Lonna!”
Down on the dance floor, Nancy angrily leaves the area as Lonna and the dancers from the Norton School continue to argue and fuss with each other. Margarita looks at Lonna and shouts, “Lonna!”
Lonna ignores Margarita and continues to fuss with the Norton School dancers with her hands on her hips as she shouts, “Go ahead and try it!”
“Lonna!” Margarita shouts again.
Lonna still ignores Margarita as she shouts to the Norton School dancers, “I said go ahead and try it!”
“Lonna I am speaking to you!” Margarita shouts.
Lonna still ignores Margarita as she continues to shout to the Norton School dancers, “Go ahead and try it!”
Margarita becomes frustrated. She angrily rushes to Lonna, holds her arms and hands up, putting her face right in Lonna's face and shouts, “Lonna I am speaking to you!”
Lonna unphased moves her face away from Margarita's face completely ignoring Margarita and continues to shout to the Norton School dancers, “Go ahead and try it suckaaaa!”
Mary, Barry, Gordon and Jack continue to be on the balcony as Mary calls out, “Lonna!”
Down on the dance floor, Lonna and everyone else turn and look up at Mary.
Mary then shouts, “Come here for a minute Lonna! I want to speak to you, come here! Just you, come here!”
Lonna turns and walks towards underneath the balcony where Mary is. She picks up a foam cup of drink that’s on the side and takes a few sips. A few witnesses approach her as one of them asks, “What's going on?” Lonna rudely walks right pass the witnesses ignoring them as she continues to walk towards underneath the balcony.
On the balcony, Barry turns to Mary and says, “While you’re dealing with Lonna, I'm gonna go deal with Nancy.”
“Okay Barry,” Mary says. Barry turns and goes away as Mary follows him.
Mary is walking in the hallway downstairs. She approaches Lonna as Lonna approaches her with the cup of drink in her hand. She then says, “Lonna, what the heck is going on out there?”
“Nothing's going on,” Lonna says as she rudely fiddles with her nails, not looking at Mary.
“Lonna I just saw you, Nancy and the rest of the girls arguing and screaming at the other dancers, then I saw Nancy angrily walk off. What was that all about?”
“Nothing.”
“Nothing? Lonna what's this I hear you and Nancy fussing about Horace and Cheryl, saying that none of you want Horace for a dance partner and y'all don't want Cheryl sharing the stage with you?”
“I don't know what they're talking about.”
“No? Well Horace and Cheryl came bursting into the office a few minutes ago, claiming they're gonna quit because of you, Nancy and the rest of the girls.”
“I don't know what they're talking about.”
“I'm telling you what they're talking about! They're threatening to quit and walk out of here like they did before because of you girls again.”
“I still don't know what they're talking about.”
“Lonna what is the problem? Talk to me. If you don't tell me what the problem is, I can't help you. Now I need you to help me help you. What is the problem with you and the rest of the girls?”
“Nothing. Nothing's the problem.”
“I see. So in other words, you're not gonna talk to me about it.”
“Nope.” Lonna continues to fiddle with her nails, not looking at Mary.
Mary angrily looks up in the air. She suddenly grabs Lonna by the collar and long necklace chain and pulls Lonna towards her, causing Lonna to spill some drink on herself!
“Aaaah!” Lonna screams as Mary violently pulls and jerks on her!
Mary pull Lonna’s face right to her own face and says to her, “Well let me tell you what I'm talking about! You and the rest of the girls better get this chip off your shoulders and you all better get this chip off your shoulders right now because now you're getting me started!”
“Aaaah!” Lonna screams as she tries to break away from Mary.
“Now I'm gonna tell you a message and when I finish telling you this message, I want you to pass the message on to the rest of the girls!”
“Aaaah!” Lonna screams as she still tries to break away from Mary!
Mary continues to pull and violently jerk Lonna by the collar and chain and says to her, “Now I paid these dancers a lot of money to perform at the next show! I don't want to lose this money on a kind of you and the rest of the girls' attitude! If I lose any money because of you all, I'm gonna put you all on a new assignment, you got that?”
“Aaaah! Help!” Lonna screams still trying to break away from Mary.
Mary continues to pull and violently jerk Lonna by the collar and chain and tells her, “You girls better start shaping up or you all gonna have to deal with me, you got that?!”
“Aaah!”
“Do you get my message?!”
“Aaah! Help!”
“I asked do you get my message?!”
“Yes!”
“Do you get my message loud and clear?!”
“Yes!”
“Are you sure now?!”
“Yes!”
“Good! Now pass the message on!” Mary says as she violently shoves Lonna away.
“Aaaah!” Lonna screams again as she almost falls. She quickly catches her balance and walks away from Mary. She takes a sip from the cup giving an attitude. Mary walks a little towards Lonna angrily looking at her.
Ten minutes later, Mary and Margarita stand there in the doorway of the dance floor underneath the balcony sadly looking in the distance as they hear a loud commotion across the dance floor.
Across the dance floor, Nancy angrily heads towards the exit door and shouts, “Because I really don't give a fuck!” Miranda, Bernice, Charlotte and Kelly angrily follow after Nancy and grab a hold of her arms as Nancy shouts, “As far as I'm concerned, all those dancers can go to hell!” Nancy reaches the exit door and angrily shoves the exit door, walking through it with Miranda, Bernice, Charlotte and Kelly walking through it with her. They are then followed by a group of bystanders.
Mary and Margarita continue to stand there in the doorway of the dance floor as Margarita says, “Usted sabe Mary, no se lo que ha entrado en las ninas.”
“No se que ha metido en ellas Mama,” Mary says. “Realmente no se.” Mary and Margarita continue to look out across the dance floor.
Chapter 13
Diane D’s Absence Causes Tension