Here we go, chapter two, like I promised.

DISCLAIMER: don't own RENT

COLLINS

I don't really know that crazy old lady everyone says I'm related to. She was small though. She didn't like liberal judges, she hated homosexuals, refused to even speak with a Democrat, and she thought Lyndon B. Johnson was the Devil disguised as an old wrinkly politician.

And I don't see how people say we were exactly alike.

I don't remember my Great Grandma Mollie. I usually called her Gran, but I never really knew her. She was old, that's all I remember. She was like, 107 or something when she died.

Gran was a crazy old lady, when Dad was in his twenties, she got put in a mental institution, because she still thought the Japanese were bombing us.

She was a crazy old bitch.

Literally.

She was released when I was about fifteen, and was transferred to a nursing home. But she was a crazy old bitch and she still held on to her house.

So when she died, she automatically gave me the house.

Well, at least that's what the letter said.

I got some creepy letter in the mail, from some hot shot lawyer in North Carolina, were Gran lived. He told me she recently died from a stroke in her sleep and she left everything to me. He wanted me to come down and settle everything with him.

And when I mean she left me everything. I mean it.

She left me everything…

She left me her house, her pearls, her clothes, her poodle, her deodorant and her money.

Yes, she left me her money.

She wasn't a wealthy bitch, but she had money. She left 'bout 30,000 dollars to me. Enough to pay the rent for a year.

I got everything from the crazy old bitch who thought Lyndon B. Johnson was Satan. The crazy old bitch, that everyone said I was like.

How?

So when I got this smart-ass letter, I didn't really know what to do. I didn't know if to believe it, toss it or even read it. But I called the guy and it was real. He wanted me to come down soon so we could settle everything.

I didn't know what to do.

I didn't want to leave New York. I didn't want to leave my friends who were in the room next to me. I didn't want to leave the lights of the city.

I didn't know what to do.

When it hit me.

If you can't bring New York. Bring what makes New York, New York.

Sorta

"What is it Collins?" Roger asked me. I smiled at them and waved the letter in front of them.

"This my friends. This is what it is."

"A piece of paper?" Roger asked me. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Not just a regular piece of paper, a piece of paper…with black ink!" Maureen exclaimed. She and Roger laughed together.

"No, it's a letter."

They froze.

"Aw, you aren't gonna leave us again, are you Collins?" Maureen asked me. I shook my head, then stopped. She gasped.

"You are gonna leave again," Mark said.

"No, no. This letter is from a lawyer."

Roger laughed. "He's been sued! He's going to jail!" Roger laughed again.

"No Roger I'm not going to jail. Sorry to rain on your parade. And besides I would go to court before I went to jail. Even two year olds know that."

Roger fell silent.

Mark was trying to grasp the concept. "Then why is this important? Can't it wait till tomorrow?"

"No! It's from a lawyer. My great-grandma's lawyer. She died and she left everything to me."

Silence fell across the room. Not the awkward silent, but the, "Oh-My-Gawd" Silence.

"What?" Maureen finally asked me.

"She left everything. She has this huge house, money and everything! She gave it to me and the lawyer wants me to come down soon to settle everything. And I want you guys with me."

They stopped.

"Collins, why would we go?" they asked me.

"Because, we need to get away. We need to spend a month or a few in this huge house and then we come back! It's perfect, it's the escape we needed."

Roger smiled. "I'll go. Sounds fun."

Mark sighed. "Someone's gotta make sure you two take your AZT. I guess I'll be beside you on that plane."

Maureen squealed. "Ooh and someone needs to…be me! I'll go too!"

I smiled. "It's settled! We'll go down next week!" I exclaimed.

"Hey Collins."

"Yeah?"

"How we gonna get down there?"

Another chapter may be up tonight. Not sure though depends on how tired I am after Futurama.