Diane D Is Back In The Mental Institution: The Empty Seats Syndrome
Around two weeks later, Barry is standing inside the office at the mental institution looking down at some invoices again. Mary and Diane D walk into the office. They walk towards Barry as Mary says, “Hey Barry, what’s going on? Diane and I discovered that even though the ticket sales are practically sold out, none of the rows of seats near the stage are being sold!”
“Yeah Dad!” an upset Diane D shouts as she and Mary approach Barry. “How come people aren’t purchasing the rows of seats near the stage?”
“People aren’t purchasing the rows of seats near the stage?” Barry asks.
“No! Look at all these empty seats in the seating chart!” Diane D shouts as she shows Barry the seating chart with the empty rows of seats in the front of the theater. “All the seats in the back of the theater and in the middle of the theater are sold out, but how come the seats closest to the stage aren’t sold out yet?!
“Wow that is strange,” Barry says as he looks at the charts. “I don’t know why the front seats aren’t being sold Diane. Maybe the price might be too high for the people.”
“The price might be too high? That haven’t stopped people before! What I want to know is ‘why aren’t people purchasing tickets for the front seats near the stage’!”
“I don’t know Diane! We might have to promote the fundraising more. I’ll see what we can do.”
“Yeah Diane,” Mary says. “We’ll try to take care of it.”
Diane D sighs. She then says, “Okay Mom, Dad. I’m gonna go finish rehearsing with the girls.”
“Okay Diane,” Mary and Barry say. Diane D turns around. She sadly holds her head down and heads towards the doorway as Mary and Barry turn and worriedly look at her. Diane D then heads out into the hallway and leaves the room.
Margarita and Tomas suddenly enter the office through the back hallway. They walk towards Mary and Barry as Margarita says, “Hey you two.”
Mary and Barry turn towards Margarita and Tomas as Mary says, “Hey Mom, hey Dad.”
“So what’s going on?” Margarita says as she and Tomas approach Mary and Barry.
“What’s up with the ticket sales Barry?”
“Yeah,” Tomas says. “How is it going? Are they sold out yet?”
“Well,” Barry says, “the problem is, I got good news and bad news.”
“You got good news and bad news?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. What’s the good news?”
“The good news, is that the ticket sales for the fundraising are practically sold out.”
“They are?”
“Yep.”
“Wow that’s great!”
“That’s wonderful!” Margarita says. “What’s the bad news?”
“Well,” Barry says, “the bad news, is even though the ticket sales are practically sold out, we can’t get the first several rows of seats sold.”
“What!” Margarita and Tomas shout.
“We can’t get the first several rows of seats sold?!” Margarita shouts. “What do you mean ‘we can’t get the first several rows of seats sold’?!”
“Here look!” Barry says as he shows Margarita and Tomas a diagram of the theater seating arrangements. Margarita and Tomas look at the diagram. “See?” Barry says. “Nobody wants to buy the first several rows of seats! Those seats will all be empty!”
“What!!” Margarita shouts. “My God, that’s the first ten rows of the theater! The first ten rows will be empty! That is a lot of empty rows which means a lot of empty seats!”
“It sure is!” Tomas shouts. “I don’t understand! How come no one is buying these seats?!”
“Because people are still afraid of Diane Dad!” Mary cries. “What!” Tomas and Margarita shout.
“People are still afraid of Diane?!” Margarita shouts. “What are you talking about Mary?”
“Nobody wants to buy these seats because they don’t want to be too close to the stage!” Mary shouts. “They’re afraid to be close to Diane while she’s on stage after what happened to all those authority figures last year!”
“What! They don’t want these seats because they don’t want to be close to Diane after what happened?!”
“That’s ri-ight!” Barry says.
“Oh noo!”
“How do you know that’s reason these seats aren’t being sold Barry?!” Tomas says.
“Because people said that when they called on the phone Dad!” Barry shouts. “A lot of people still want to see the fundraising concert and support it, but said they’re still traumatized and afraid by hearing what Diane did to all those authority figures last year! They said they don’t want to get too close to her while she’s on stage because they don’t want to be her next victims, just in case she goes off and gets out-of-control while she’s on stage!”
“Oh no!” Margarita shouts. “They’re afraid they might be Diane’s next victims if she goes off and gets out-of-control while she’s on stage?!”
“That’s what they said! That’s why they started purchasing tickets for seats all the way in the back of the theater so they won’t be too close to her!”
“Really?”
“Yes! When the seats in the back of the theater were all sold out, people started purchasing tickets for seats in the middle of the theater! Then when the seats in the middle of the theater were all sold out, people started purchasing tickets for seats towards the front of the theater until we got to the first ten rows, that’s when the ticket sales stopped!”
“The ticket sales stopped at the first ten rows?” Tomas asks.
“That’s right! It’s not easy for people to hear that these authority figures that Diane’s other personality killed last year had their heads split wide open and were nearly decapitated.”
“My God! Did you tell any of this to Diane?”
“No I didn’t.”
“You didn’t tell her about what people said on the phone?”
“No because I didn’t want her feelings to be hurt! But she WAS suspicious before about the tickets sales not selling out at first because of her.”
“I know. Did she see this diagram yet?”
“Yeah she saw the diagram. She and Mary are the ones who brought it in here and showed it to me.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“My God!” Margarita shouts, “what are we gonna do?! It would look ridiculous having all those front seats right near the stage empty, especially ten rows of it, that’s a lot of empty rows! If Diane comes out on stage and sees all those empty rows of seats near the stage, it’ll hurt her feelings! I don’t want Diane’s feelings to be hurt if she sees all those empty seats, especially being empty right at the stage!”
“Well what are we gonna do Mom?! Do you think maybe we could have the lights in the theater very dark and shine a bright light from the back of the theater right on Diane’s face while she’s performing, that way the bright light can blind her vision from the audience and she can’t see the audience or the empty seats that’s right there in front of her? When she looks out towards the audience, all she’ll see is darkness.”
“No Barry, absolutely not! I don’t want Diane to be tricked into thinking an audience is filled up when it’s not!”
“Me neither Mom, but it might be the only way to spare her feelings from being hurt from seeing all those empty seats in front of her! She’s already hurt just by looking at the empty seats on the seating chart!”
“Wait,” Mary says. “What if we give discounts on all those empty seats. We might have to give discounts on those empty seats if we want to get them filled up. Once we get those empty seats filled up, we won’t have to worry about blinding Diane with that bright light from the back of the theater.”
“You’re right Mary,” Margarita says. “We could give discounts on those empty seats. The victims and their family members might just have to deal with receiving less money from the fundraising.” Everyone sadly looks at Margarita, then they sadly look back at the diagram of the seating chart showing all those empty seats in the first ten rows right in front of the stage.
A few days later, the same two Latino men and the same two Latino women are inside a living room in one of their apartments as the first woman reads a headline on social media that reads: ‘DISCOUNT TICKET SALES FOR THE DIAZ-DAVIDSON FUNDRAISING CONCERT!’ What?” the woman says. “The Diaz-Davidson Organization is selling discount tickets on their fundraising concert!”
“What?” everyone else says.
“The Diaz-Davidson Organization is selling discount tickets on their fundraising concert?” the second man asks.
“That’s what it says. I wonder why they’re selling discount tickets on their fundraising concert.”
“I know why,” the second woman says. “You do?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay then, why? How come they’re selling discount tickets on their fundraising concert?”
“Because they want all the seats filled up, that’s why.”
“What!” everyone else shouts.
“They want all the seats filled up?!” the first man shouts. “The Diaz-Davidson Organization don’t have all the seats filled up yet?”
“No, not the first ten rows near the stage.”
“Not the first ten rows near the stage?” the second man asks. “How come?”
“Because a lot of people are still afraid to come to their show!”
“People are still afraid to come to their show?”
“Yes! The Diaz-Davidson Organization can’t sell out the seats in the first ten rows because everybody is thinking the same thing we’re thinking! They don’t want to be too close to the stage because they’re all afraid to be close to Diane D just like we are! That’s why the Diaz-Davidson Organization can’t sell out seats near the stage because nobody wants to be too close to Diane D! They’re all afraid of her ‘other’ personality just like we are!”
“Well du-uuh can you blame them?!” the first man shouts. “From now on, whenever people look at or see Diane D, it is going to be in the back of their heads that she took down and injured several police officers who had guns and several swat team members who had shotguns, just like whenever that little boy Marcus looked at or saw Diane D, it was in the back of his head that she beat him up and injured him inside that school hallway then chased after him down the back stairwell of that school! It’s going to be in the back of people’s heads that she might have caused that man Kurt to get a couple of his fingers shot off in that stairwell! It’s going to be in the back of people’s heads that her ‘other’ personality might just pop up while she’s on stage! Nobody wants to be close to that!”
“Yeah that’s true.” The people continue to look at the article on social media.
Two weeks later, Diane D and Mary are standing inside the office at the mental institution looking down at the theater seating chart. Barry walks into the office and walk towards Mary and Diane D. Mary and Diane D turn to Barry as Mary says, “Hey Barry.”
“Hey,” Barry says. “What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on Dad!” Diane D shouts. “Mom and I discovered that tickets are finally being sold in the front seats of the theater, but only eleven seats in the tenth row are sold!”
“Eleven seats in the tenth row?”
“Yeah! People are still not purchasing tickets for the other remaining seats in that row and all the other remaining seats near the stage! Here look!” Diane D shouts as she shows Barry the diagram of the seating arrangements of the theater. “Why are people still not buying tickets for the seats near the stage?! I don’t understand that! I thought you all decided to put discounts on the ticket prices near the stage!”
“We did Diane!”
“So why isn’t anybody still buying tickets for all the seats near the stage?!” “I don’t know!”
“We did promote the concert again Diane,” Mary says. “I guess we’re gonna have to try to give more discounts on the ticket prices.”
“More discounts on the ticket prices?” Diane D asks. “Yes.”
“How are more discounts on the ticket prices gonna help raise money for the victims? If you keep giving out discounts, there won’t be enough money raised for them!”
“It might be the only way to try one more time to fill up all those seats near the stage,” Barry says. “You think so Dad?”
“I’m not sure. We can only try.”
“Okay. I hope it works this time.”
“We hope so too Diane.”
“Okay. I’m gonna go back and rehearse with the girls.”
“Okay Diane,” Mary says. “We’ll be here.”
Diane D turns around and heads towards the doorway. Mary and Barry turn and look at her. Diane D then enters the hallway and leave the room. Mary and Barry then turn and worriedly look at each other.
A few days later, Margarita, Tomas, Mary and Barry are inside the office at the mental institution discussing the fundraising concert. An angry Diane D suddenly walks into the room with Michael, Nicolas and Mickey as she holds the seating chart. Margarita, Tomas, Mary and Barry turn and look at them as Barry says, “My God, someone looks angry.”
“What’s the matter Diane?” Margarita asks.
“We just looked at this updated seating chart!” Diane D shouts. “Only nine more seats in the tenth row are sold! People are still not purchasing tickets for the remaining empty seats in that row and all the other remaining seats near the stage! Why are people still not purchasing tickets for the seats near the stage?! Why are people avoiding those seats?!”
“Yeah!” Nicolas shouts. “I don’t understand that!”
“Me neither!” Michael shouts.
“We thought giving out more discounts on the ticket prices would help!” Diane D shouts. “It didn’t seem to help at all!”
“Calm down Diane!” Tomas shouts. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this!”
“How Grandpa?” Nicolas asks. “By giving more discounts on the ticket prices?”
“No not this time Nicolas.”
“So what are we gonna do then?”
“We don’t know yet. We’ll have to figure something out.” They all worriedly look at the seating chart.