Chapter 1: Spanish Babies
"Mimi! Dónde es usted querido?"
The young girl in bed groaned and merely turned over, while her mother called her repeatedly. A little girl lying in the bed next to hers started to cry softly.
"Mimi, mama wants you!" light from the hallway entered the cramped room as a boy about five years old gave the sleeping girl his message.
"Maya needs changing, Dalia and Kara have to be walked to Nana's, and Marko needs to be fed." He said in hesitant English.
"Fine! Tell mama I'm up, already!"
Mimi stumbled down the steep stairs of their apartment building, last night's garbage in one hand, baby in the other.
"Catalina, that you?" A woman across the street yelled at Mimi.
"No, Mrs. Riolta. I'm her daughter, Mimi, remember?"
"Don't you use sass with me, child! Daughter, huh. Well tell your mama that I'm waiting for my dress, and if she can't damn-well finish it, I'll take it to some one else!"
"Yes Mrs. Riolta." Mimi mumbled as her neighbor went back inside. She slammed the garbage can lid down and woke the babe in her arms. Maya started to howl. How Mimi longed to clamp a hand over her mouth.
Back inside, Mimi put Maya down on the floor and went over to where Catalina sat at her sewing machine and began to speak in Spanish.
"Mama, Mrs. Riolta told me to tell you, if you couldn't finish her dress she'd like to take it somewhere else…"
"Mimi! Can't you see I've got enough on my plate without you coming in and interrupting me?! Why were you talking to that Riolta woman, anyways? Instead of gabbing about your mama to a stranger, you should have been in here helping Orin learn his numbers or cleaning up the babies for lunch!"
"Mama, I-"
"No, no time for excuses. Dalia and Kara have to go to Nana's. It's the least you can do to help around here, Mimi!"
Mimi grabbed Kara's hand and pulled her towards the door, then started stuffing her chubby little arms in a jacket, a size too small.
"Kara, where's Dalia?"
"I don't know…" the little girl said, wiping her nose on her hand. Mimi sighed heavily.
"Dalia, get over here right now!" She shouted over the chaos. Dalia started to jump on the couch and scream.
"Mimi! Get her off the couch! Nana was expecting you an hour ago!" Catalina yelled through the closed door of her bedroom. Nearly shrieking in frustration, Mimi ran over to the couch and pulled her little sister bodily to the door.
"Dalia, get your coat on now!" She growled, tossing Dalia her coat.
-----
Down near the subway the three girls walked through the sleeting rain, Kara on the left, Dalia on the right and Mimi clutching both their hands.
The ticket line was long when Mimi and her sisters got there with four people ahead of them: A rich elderly lady (Totally a mugger target. Mimi thought) paying for her ticket, a young Hispanic girl in heels with her black hair in a bob, a young white man in gangster-wannabe clothes, and then a portly man in a tweed suit holding a briefcase and yakking on his cell phone.
"Mimi…" Kara was tugging her hand.
"What is it?"
"My shoe needs tying." The little girl looked apologetic as Mimi sighed and bent down to tie the shoe.
"Hey, you, s--- skin!"
Mimi's face went red with embarrassment as she heard the Caucasian man speaking to her.
"Yeah, go back to Mexico, or wherever you're from. Stupid b----, probably can't even understand what I'm saying. D-O Y-O-U K-N-O-W W-H-A-T I A-M S-A-Y-I-N-G?" he ended real slowly, as if talking to a small child and Mimi thanked her mama mentally for never teaching the little girls English.
Mimi stood up and got ready to leave the station, never mind what mama would say, when she noticed the guy wasn't even talking to her, but the girl in front of him. Mimi began to breath easily again. Yes, he was still being an arse to that other girl, but at least it wasn't her, as it had been on many other occasions. Mimi was amazed by this girl who just stood there as if the guy didn't exist.
Mimi would've liked to congratulate the girl on her self-control, then she happened to look down at the girl's hands. Blue nails digging into her painfully into her skin, when her control broke. The girl turned around, revealing cold eyes, reached up and started pulling her hair off. Wait, pulling her- The wig came off and the girl (boy?) stated in a calm but furious voice:
"I'm more of a man then you'll ever be." She (he?) put the wig back in place, "And I'm more of a woman than you'll ever get."
Mimi was amazed by her daring. She could never get the nerve to say that to anybody; even if the person was talking like that guy was.
After the man in the tweed suit got his ticket, Mimi pulled the girls to the counter and pulled out her money; $4.25, just enough to take the three of them there.
"How many?" the fat man working the booth asked.
"Two children, one youth, please."
"Six twenty."
"Six twenty?! Last week it was only four twenty-five!"
"Rates've gone up. Look, miss, if you ain't gonna buy the tickets, I got payin' costumers."
"Please, sir…"
"Don't make me call security, kid."
Mimi didn't know what to do. She felt the itch of tears building up in her eyes. Grabbing the little girls, she walked away. As they were about to walk up the steps, a voice made Mimi's head turn.
"Hey!" the girl who'd yelled at the skinhead slowed to a jog as she neared the trio. "You – you forgot y-your money." She said trying to catching her breath while holding it out to Mimi in her hand. Hesitantly Mimi reached out for it.
"Thank you."
"Why are you leaving? Didn't you stand in the line to get a ticket?"
Blushing, Mimi replied "I can't. The rates went up and I'm short…" she thought for a moment. "Almost two dollars."
"Well, come on, then." The girl started to walk away still holding Mimi's money. Mimi, unsure of what just happened, stayed where she was. The girl looked back at her.
"Are you coming?"
Mimi hurriedly pulled the girls to the ticket booth where the strange girl was waiting.
"Karl, I'll take two kids and one youth, please." She said to the fat man.
Karl looked up from the blonde lady in line.
"Angie, sweetie, you know them kids don't have the money, and you know I can't give tickets away for free."
"You won't have to," she replied. "Ka-pow." She said softly as she put the money on the counter with an extra toonie on top.
The man sighed, but took the money and replaced it with three tickets. The girl smiled nicely as she handed an astounded Mimi her tickets.
"Hi, I'm Angel."
Hey, this is my first RENT fic, so be nice. I've bleeped out all racist and swear words by putting the first letter followed by the appropriate number of dashes... You probably already figured that out... Right then... I don't own RENT. Take nothing but inspiration, leave nothing but reviews.