by Doris Miller
The following morning, Dana and Teresa are driving to work, towards Long Island City, Queens. Dana is wearing her dark brown leather jacket and a pair of black pants. Teresa is dressed in a short medium blue jacket and blue pants. As they are driving, Dana decides to pull up to a pay phone at a curb. She leaves Teresa waiting in her car, while she goes to the pay phone. Dana calls up her grandmother Gracy. She calls up her grandmother to make sure that all of her sisters are there in the house with their grandmother and their grandfather. Dana does not want her grandparents Gracy and Mike to be left alone inside the house by themselves, because they both have been feeling very ill and weak with the flu. Dana wants Missy and the triplets to be home with their grandparents while she is away at work. Dana knows that Missy and the triplets had wanted to go to a function that their Uncle Kevin is supposed to give this morning. Dana had told Missy and the triplets the night before not to go ANYWHERE the next day, and not to leave their grandparents home alone. Dana had told all four of her sisters to stay home and take care of their grandparents until she gets off work, but Missy and the triplets had all decided to sneak out and go to the function anyway! They are not home! They had all snuck out and went to the function, hoping that Dana will never find out that they had left the house! They all plan to be back home by the time Dana gets off from work.
While Dana is speaking on the pay phone, she tells her grandmother to put Missy and the triplets on the telephone. Gracy does not want Dana to know that Missy and the triplets had snuck out of the house. She knows Dana's violent temper. She knows that Dana will get very angry and very upset, so she makes up a false excuse to Dana as to why Missy and the triplets aren't able to come to the telephone. Gracy nervously tells Dana, "Missy and the triplets are down in the basement at the moment Dana. They cannot come to the telephone. They're cleaning up a heavy flood that's in the basement."
"A heavy flood? What heavy flood Grandma? What happened?"
"Well the washing machine had a bad leak. Missy and the triplets are down in the basement trying to clean up all the water."
"Yeah? Is it a lot of water down there?"
"Yeah, it's a whole lot of water down the basement Dana. It's just too impossible for Missy and the triplets to come upstairs to the phone right now. Hopefully they'll all be finish soon."
"Yeah? Okay Grandma. I'll call back in a little while. And when I call back, I want to speak to Missy and the triplets. I want to make sure they're all in the house with you and Grandpa."
"They're all here Dana. Don't worry. They're all here."
"Okay Grandma. Talk to you later."
"Okay Dana. I'll be here. By now."
"By Grandma." Dana hangs up the telephone. She walks back to her car where Teresa is waiting. She gets inside her vehicle and pulls off.
Thirty minutes later, Dana drives into the parking lot of the stockroom building and parks her car. She and Teresa get out of the car and go through the back door where Kenneth is still sitting at the desk, listening to The Oldies music on his radio. Dana goes through the hallway and goes around a corner of another hallway as Teresa heads straight towards the stockroom. Dana makes a stop at a pay phone, not far from Kenneth. Teresa enters the stockroom and sees that the stockroom is barely full of the other employees. She sees only two employees in the stockroom when she usually sees more than 19 or 20! One of the two employees that are in the stockroom is Victor and the other employee is an Indian fellow named Ramesh. Teresa goes to Victor. Puzzled, she smiles to him and asks, "Hey Victor! What's going on around here? This room is sort of empty this morning! Where is everybody?"
"Oh, everybody else had went to work in another department for today."
"Everybody else had went to work in another department?"
"That's right."
"Why?"
Victor looks around. He then looks down at Teresa and whispers, “You see Teresa, nobody here wants to work around Dangerous Dana.”
Teresa becomes stunned.
Victor whispers, "Everyone around here kind of feel that Dana is some sort of a threat to everybody! They all feel that if any of them ever get into ANY kind of argument or ANY kind of confrontation with her, she may blow off STEAM! Like she did before! They feel that she may get angry and start to retaliate somehow! So they all chose to work somewhere else for as long as they can, just to keep away from her!"
"Really?"
"Yes! The point I'm trying to make to you Teresa is that everybody around here would rather just stay out of her way!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah!"
"Then why are you and Ramesh still here?"
"Well Teresa SOMEBODY has to be in here! We can't leave this room TOTALLY empty! Believe me Teresa, if I could have the opportunity to work away from Dana myself, I would!"
Puzzled, Teresa looks at Victor.
As Victor and Teresa continue to whisper, all of a sudden they hear shouting coming from out in the hallway! Victor and Teresa hurry towards the doorway to see what is going on and to see what the shouting is all about! They reach the doorway and look out towards the second hallway! As they look out towards the second hallway, they see and hear Dana on the pay phone shouting, "NOW LOOK GRANDMA, THIS IS THE SECOND TIME I CALLED! AND YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU STILL CANNOT GET NOT ONE OF THEM ON THE TELEPHONE? NOW WHERE ARE MISSY AND THE TRIPLETS? I TOLD THEM NOT TO LEAVE YOU AND GRANDPA ALOOONE," as she BANGS her fist real hard against the phone booth!
Gracy shouts from the other end of the telephone, "I TOLD YOU BEFORE THAT THEY'RE ALL DOWN IN THE BASEMENT DANA! THEY CANNOT HEAR ME CALLING THEM!"
"WHY ARE ALL FOUR OF THEM STILL DOWN THE BASEMENT GRANDMA? WHAT ARE THEY DOING DOWN THERE?"
"I TOLD YOU SOME HEAVY WATER HAD LEAKED OUT OF THE WASHING MACHINE! IT’S A FLOOD DOWN THE BASEMENT AND THEY’RE ALL STILL DOWN THERE TRYING TO CLEAN IT UP RIGHT NOW!"
Dana breathes hard in anger. Her teeth start to grind as she angrily says, "Alright then Grandma, I'll call back later. AND WHEN I CALL BACK, I WANT MISSY AND THE TRIPLETS TO BE ON THE PHONE NEXT TIME! I WANT TO HEAR THEIR VOICES, OKAY? SEE YOU LATER!" Dana angrily slams the telephone down and walks away! Kenneth watches Dana as she angrily goes pass him! Victor and Teresa back up behind the doorway where Dana can't see them! Dana angrily goes to the third hallway on the other side! Victor and Teresa peak their heads back out into the hallway to watch Dana! They see Dana angrily bang open a staircase door with her fist, then see her angrily turn and disappear into the staircase! Teresa, Victor and Kenneth stare at each other in amazement! Victor and Teresa look at Kenneth as he shrugs his shoulders at them.
Teresa and Victor go back into the stockroom. They look back towards the doorway in disbelief! Victor then shouts, "MAN WHAT THE HELL IS THAT WOMAN'S PROBLEM TERESA?"
"I don't know Victor! She's awfully angry about something!"
"YEAH? IT SEEMS TO ME THAT WOMAN STAYS ANGRY," Victor shouts as he and Teresa stare back towards the doorway in disbelief! Victor then whispers, "Let me ask you something Teresa." He bends down and takes a newspaper from a pile that is under the table. He then looks towards the doorway. He opens up the newspaper and holds a page up to Teresa. He shows her an article on the page about Sandra's death! Victor looks down to Teresa and whispers, "Now Teresa, we had all read this article in the paper about a woman being found murdered outside her apartment door in Queens around a few nights ago! Did you see this article yet?"
"Yeah I've seen it! Everyone's seen it!"
"Yeah?" Victor looks around, then looks back at Teresa and whispers, "The police do not have any suspects yet, right?"
"No! They don't!"
"Teresa wasn't this woman one of the people that Dana had beaten up before, with a baseball bat? And wasn't this woman friends with the other woman that Dana had killed in that fight? The one that she had choked to death, which caused her to go to prison for two years?"
Teresa looks at the paper and says, "Yeah this is the woman. Her name was Sandra."
"Yeah? You know Teresa I was wonderi
ng if it was Dana that killed this woman Sandra outside her apartment door!"
"WHAT!"
"Everybody else around here was kind of wondering the same thing, but they all try not to talk about it much! That's why they all did not want to be in here Teresa! They did not want to work around Dana! They all feel that she might have been somewhat responsible for this woman's death!"
"Really? Oh Victor how can that be? Dana didn't even know where this woman lived! Dana couldn't have done this! And I don't think that Dana had beaten this woman with a baseball bat anyway, because everyone said this woman had gotten away! They said that Dana never got a chance to find this woman and beat her with the baseball bat!"
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
"Well Teresa I'm beginning to wonder, if Dana might have finally found this woman, and then bashed her over the head and killed her!"
Teresa shockingly looks at Victor again! Victor then continues, "You know Teresa this is the second article I read that someone's head had been bashed in with a hard heavy object and left to die!"
"What do you mean this is the second article? What was the first?"
Victor bends down under the table again. He pulls an old newspaper out of a stack. He opens up the paper and shows Teresa an article in the paper. He shows her an article about a male Hispanic who had gotten his head bashed in right outside a local store in Queens and was left to die. Teresa sees the article in the paper. She sees a picture of a van. She recognizes the van! It's the 'PLUMBING & HEATING' van! Teresa nearly falls out! She nervously asks Victor, "Well, what happened to this guy?"
"Well it says right here that this man had went inside a store on 101st Ave. When he came out that store, someone had suddenly bashed him right in the head with a hard heavy object! First they struck him across the back! Then they bashed him right over the head! It says right here that he was bleeding real bad and that blood was everywhere! It says right here that he had died at the hospital a couple of hours later and the police still have not found any suspects in that homicide! They still do not know what the motive of that attack was! That murder case is still unsolved!"
Teresa becomes frightened! She starts to freeze! She stares into space! She starts to have flashbacks in her head! Her mind starts to go back to when she and Dana were driving down the street and that same 'PLUMBING & HEATING' van had crossed right in front of them! She also has flashbacks of when she and Dana pulled around the corner of that very same spot and address that is in the paper and flashbacks of Dana leaving the car and coming back! Victor then snaps Teresa out of her trance! He interrupts her and says, "Hey! What's wrong Teresa? It looks like you've just seen a ghost! What's the matter?"
"Oh nothing Victor," Teresa nervously says. "I just felt a sharp pain in my stomach! But I'm okay!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah! I'm sure!" Teresa nervously continues to hold the newspaper and looks back at the picture with the 'PLUMBING & HEATING' van.
Victor then says, "And it also says right here that a couple of witnesses who had seen the incident said that it was a person dressed in a long black jacket, a black hat and a pair of black gloves who had bashed this fellow right in the head and then ran from the scene!"
Teresa becomes puzzled. She looks at Victor and asks, "A person dressed in a long black jacket, a black hat and a pair of black gloves?"
"Yeah! It says it right here!"
Teresa sees the sentence in the article. She gets relieved. She had feared that the perpetrator might have been Dana, then she is relieved to read that the perpetrator was a person dressed in a long black jacket, a black hat and a pair of black gloves, not Dana. Teresa did not see Dana wearing a long black jacket, a black hat or a pair of black gloves that day. She then asks, "Well does it say whether the perpetrator was a man or woman?"
"No, it doesn't say! But most likely it was probably a man!" Victor looks towards the doorway again. He then looks down at Teresa and firmly whispers, "Now listen Teresa, and listen to me very carefully, alright! Now whatever you do, DON'T mention a WORD to Dana about what we were just talking about, alright? And DON'T mention a WORD to her about everybody wanting to work somewhere else, just to keep away from her, alright? KEEP everything to yourself! You cannot tell Dana everything! It is not safe to tell Dana everything! I mean I know Dana is your friend and all and you both have been friends for years and years, but you know that Dana has a violent temper Teresa! You know that!"
"Yeah I do know that Victor! Her family also knows that! Dana's family had took her to counseling before so that she can be able to control her violent temper!"
"Oh really? Well obviously it didn't work!"
"I think it did work for a while, but it didn't last too long!"
"No? Well how does her boyfriend Tony SURVIVE all these YEARS with a violent tempered person like that? I mean how does he do it?"
"I really don't know Victor! Tony has gone to counseling with Dana several times before! Sometimes he would even drag and pull Dana right out of the bed just to make sure that she gets up and go to counseling!"
"Really?"
"Yeah!"
"I just can't figure out how in the world does he deal with a violent tempered person like that! How long have they both been together anyway?"
"Oh Dana and Tony have been together for around 15 years now! Dana was around 17 when she and Tony started going out together. They've been together ever since."
"Wow! Well how do they get along Teresa?"
"They get along just like any other couple! They have their ups and downs just like everybody else!"
"Yeah? Well I don't know how in the world he deals with her violent temper! You know Dana has had plenty of assault charges against her in the past, right?"
"Right!"
"Now none of us that work here had seen the fight that Dana had when she attacked those three people with a baseball bat, none of us were there, but we sure heard it was bloody! We heard that Dana had all three of those people bleeding real bad and their blood was every where! We heard she putted two of those people in the hospital and killed the other one! We even heard three different guys tried to body slam Dana off those two women Rose and Kathy, then those three guys wound up in the hospital with broken bones! We even heard that one of those guys lost an eye! Teresa, you know that whenever Dana assaults people, she does not stop until she draws blood from that person! She does not stop until she breaks a couple or several of their bones! She probably won't stop until she KILLS that person!"
Teresa shockingly and frighteningly looks at Victor!
Victor continues, "Teresa, how come a couple of times before in the past, whenever Dana had gotten into any kind of fight with a person for anything or over anything, especially when it was over any member in her family, that person winds up being found mysteriously slain a few or several months later? And no one knows who killed that person! And the police NEVER have any witnesses OR any evidence! And the majority of the time, the killer is never ever caught! And those murder cases seem to always remain unsolved! How come? Listen Teresa, if Dana ever knows or suspects what you and I are thinking about right now or what we are talking about, the next thing you know, is that OUR heads might be bashed in with a very hard object and then WE'LL be left to die! You'll never know! Now Teresa if, or whenever Dana comes in here and asks where is everybody, just tell her that everybody was needed somewhere else, okay? Could you do that?"
"Yeah, I guess so," Teresa frighteningly responds.
"Good! Now remember Teresa, KEEP everything and I mean EVERYTHING to yourself! Don't mention a word to Dana about what we were just talking about, alright? Now put the paper away 'cause here she comes! Get ready!"
Teresa becomes more nervous! Dana soon walks inside the stockroom. She goes and rests her black shoulder bag on a chair at the side. She walks further into the stockroom, looks around and sees that the stockroom is quite empty. She asks, "Hey Teresa! Where is everybody?"
Victor and Teresa nervously look at
each other. Teresa quickly and nervously responds, "Oh, everybody was needed somewhere else for today Dana."
"Everybody was needed somewhere else?"
"Yeah."
"Where?"
"Oh I'm not sure."
Dana sees the newspaper trembling in Teresa's hand. She gives Teresa a suspicious glare. Teresa nervously says, "I think everybody is working way up in the front. There's a lot of heavy packages up in the front, so they probably needed a lot of people way up there to help lift all those heavy packages or something." Dana continues to give Teresa a suspicious glare as Teresa nervously says, "It wasn't too much work back here anyway so everybody probably will be back here tomorrow when the work picks up, right Victor? Well I'm gonna get started on my work." Teresa starts to nervously walk away.
Dana looks at Teresa and calls out, "YOU OKAY TERESA? YOU SEEM SORT OF JUMPY!"
Teresa stops and nervously nibs her stomach! Victor stares on. Teresa slowly turns around towards Dana and says, "Really? I'm alright Dana. My stomach is a little bit upset right now. Don't worry about me. I think it was just something I had ate this morning. I'm just starting to feel it now."
Victor jumps in. He goes to Teresa and says, "Well Teresa if you feel kind of sick, maybe you should go to the bathroom or something. Then see if you can go lie down somewhere and rest for several minutes, alright?"
"Alright Victor. I'll do that." Teresa continues to nervously hold her stomach as she starts to walk towards the doorway.
As Teresa is about to go through the doorway, Dana suddenly calls out, "WAIT A MINUTE TERESA! I'LL GO WITH YOU!"
Teresa stops and stares nervously into space! She secretly turns her eyes towards Victor! She and Victor secretly stare at each other as Dana goes to grab her black shoulder bag. Teresa quickly puts the newspaper aside on the table. Dana then goes to grab Teresa by the arm. She frowns as she pulls Teresa out of the stockroom into the hallway. They leave Victor staring worriedly behind.
Five minutes later, Dana and Teresa are inside the Ladies' room. Dana is at the bathroom sink, while Teresa is slumped nervously on a chair holding her stomach. Dana finishes at the sink. She dries her hand, then walks towards Teresa. She stands over Teresa, looks around Teresa and asks, "Where's the newspaper that you had in your hand?"
Teresa looks up at Dana and nervously tells her, "Oh I put it away. I finished reading the horoscope already." Dana firmly looks down at Teresa and gives her a cold stare. Teresa nervously turns away from Dana and stares nervously out the bathroom window.
An hour passes by. Victor is still in the stockroom. He notices that Dana and Teresa have not come back yet. They have been gone for over an hour! Victor starts to become worried. He goes out the stockroom into the hallway. He goes and knocks on the Ladies' bathroom door. There is no answer. He sees Kenneth sitting at the desk near the back door, still listening to Oldies music on his radio. He hears Kenneth listening to the music of 'Aquarius,' by The 5th Dimension. Victor goes to Kenneth and asks, "Hey Kenneth! Are Dana and Teresa STILL in the Ladies' room?"
"No. Dana and Teresa had left the Ladies' room a while ago."
"They left the Ladies' room a while ago?"
"Yeah."
"Well where'd they went? They never came back into the stockroom! Where'd they go?"
"They left! They went out the back door."
"OUT THE BACK DOOR? FOR WHAT?"
"They said that they were going to the store to get some medication for Teresa's stomach pains or something like that."
"Oh yeah? Did they go to the store across the street?"
"No. They drove off in Dana's car. They said they'll be right back. Why? What's the matter?"
"Oh nothing Kenneth! I just wanted to know where they went, that's all." Victor goes and stares nervously out the back door, which leads to the parking lot. He does not see Dana's car anywhere. Kenneth then returns to listening to the Oldies music on his radio.
Dana and Teresa are driving in the car. Teresa is slumped back in the front seat holding her stomach. She nervously faces towards the side window looking out, trying to avoid looking at Dana.
Dana's car soon comes to a stop. It stops at a red light. As Teresa nervously faces towards the side window, Dana turns her head to Teresa and looks down towards Teresa's stomach. Then her eyes look up at Teresa, giving Teresa a cold sinister stare. Teresa nervously continues to face towards the side window. Dana then gives a firm angry look straight ahead as she starts to drive again. Teresa starts to sit up. She looks around a little and nervously asks, "Where're we going?"
"I'm taking you to this pharmacist I always go to when I have stomach pains. The medication I get from there always work for me."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. You'll see," Dana says. She continues to drive as she gives a firm look straight ahead. Teresa nervously looks ahead. She sees a couple of vans speeding pass the car! She nervously starts to think of the 'PLUMBING & HEATING' van.
Chapter 12
The Function