DIANN

When the mountain top is just always one hand's reach beyond comprehending.

The door opened. 

"Come in, Vatrice." 

The beautiful young woman stepped into the hallway as the other woman closed the door. 

"Oh, Casine, you have a lovely home from what I saw outside and now I see in here," Vatrice stated quietly. 

"Thank you, dear," Casine replied. She motioned Vatrice into the living room where sat a third woman. 

"Hello, Vatrice," the woman said as she smiled and stood to approach the new arrival. 

"I'm so glad to finally meet you, Reah," Vatrice responded. They politely embraced as Casine stated, "what would you like, Vatrice? Anything?"

"We're having mineral water," Reah said in her trademark deep voice as she held up the brand name container after having returned to the sofa. 

"That would be fine," Vatrice answered. Casine returned with another bottle and opened it for Vatrice, then handed it to her. 

"Please, sit down," Casine said, sitting on the opposite side of the small circle of seats. Casine reached for her own bottle of mineral water as Vatrice drank from hers after she sat and had crossed her legs. 

"It's so hot outside," she said to the other two. 

"Yes, it is," Reah said, smiling in agreement. Casine nodded. 

Silence. 

"I guess," Reah started very slowly, still holding the bottle, "the first thing we must discuss is why are we here?" 

No one spoke. 

Casine quietly put her bottle down and slowly stood. Vatrice and Reah watched her cross the room to the mantlepiece. Casine picked up the shiny figurine and held it a while, then turned to the other two women. 

"I guess I should have put this away," Casine said as she walked back to her original seat, still carrying the item. She sat down and leaned forward to place the item centered on the table but close enough so any of them could reach it if needed to. 

"No," Vatrice said, "I think it is important we do look at it." 

"Diann is the reason we are here," Reah stated. 

"It's the reason we are here," Vatrice repeated. She stared at the figurine, not taking her eyes off of it. 

"I was at home watching on tv when you won this," Vatrice stated. "I was so happy for you. I cried," she said with a gripping smile. 

"I was in the audience," Reah added. "We hailed it as an achievement." 

"Well, it was," Vatrice replied. 

"It was then, I suppose," Casine said. 

"I was so happy." 

Vatrice spoke rather whistfully. 

"You were the first black woman to win the Ann?" 

"No," Casine replied. 

"That was Mabel Jones," Reah commented, then took a drink from her bottle. 

"Long time ago," Casine said quietly.

"First black woman to win the Ann," Vatrice stated, almost as if it was needed to be spoken to delve into present day events. 

"First black person to win any of the awards," Reah stated, then added, "took them forever to give out another one." 

Casine chuckled. 

"Yea," she said, "the story was only one black winner at a time, like a Royal coronation. One had to be dead before the next one could receive the prize." 

"It honestly seemed like they believed that," Reah said, rather condescendingly. "We can't give out another honor to a black entertainer as long as old Methuselah there is still around. Could you believe it?" 

The trio were amused, then quieted again and stared once more at the figurine.     

"Is there any difference between them? Between an Ann and Diann," Vatrice asked. 

"No," Reah answered. "I don't believe so. They all look the same."  

"Where do we stand?" Vatrice finally queried. They looked at her for clarification. 

"What nominations or awards do we have?" Vatrice asked, looking to the other two. 

"Just so we know the tally," Casine responded. 

"of course," said Reah, then she added, "one Ann nomination, three Diann noms, no wins." 

"Two Ann noms, my one win here for Ann, and now my Diann nom," Casine stated. 

"Two Ann noms, a Diann nom, and now another Diann nomination," Vatrice spoke, then responded very loudly, "what on Earth is with those names?" 

Reah laughed. 

"Yea, that's what I'd like to know," Casine added. 

"Who are these people?" Vatrice spoke sharply. 

Reah settled down, then spoke, "the story is, they were the first winners, named after the first winners. Ann for major female, William for major male, Andrew for minor male and the Diann for minor female."

"But there was more," Casine inquired. 

Reah clarified, "Yes, they were all related." 

"Keeping it in the famliy, I guess," Casine said. 

"Nothing like nepotism to bestow your awards," Reah said sarcastically. 

Once again, the women laughed together in amusement. 

"And here we are wanting the Diann," Casine said, looking at Ann. She then glanced up to Reah, then Vatrice. 

Reah cleared her throat, then stated, "by this time in my career, I don't really feel it matters."

"Supposed to be inspirational to the younger set," Vatrice said. "Aren't we always told that?" 

"Haven't we always heard that, all the way back to after Mabel Jones and Edward Calverton won their statuettes," Reah responded. 

"Edward Calverton. Oh, yes," Vatrice said. "My mother used to have such a crush on him."

"Dear Edward," Reah said quietly. As the eldest of the trio, she was about the only one who existed in one capacity or another when the earlier entertainers had been around. 

"How many raccoons did Edward have to carry in a movie before he finally was even nominated for an Andrew or a William?" 

"All of his movies, wasn't it?" Vatrice asked. 

"Six," Reah said, matter-of-factly. "He had a pet raccoon in five of them, then had the fixed skunk in one. He said it might as well have just been the raccoon again." 

"How degrading," Vatrice qietly whispered, under her brdath. 

"He said he found the animals more pleasant to work with than some people back then," Reah explained. "He was just a country fellow anyway." 

"No way I'd do anything like that," Vatrice replied. 

"It gave him a paycheck, as well as established him; showing what he as a performer and a black actor could do. Breaking down the barriers, so to speak," Reah concluded, then she asked, "Remember Charlie Williams?" 

"Oh, my" Vatrice replied. "All that stuff that was said about him really damaged his image." 

Reah exhaled. 

"A lot of it wasn't true," she said silently. 

"Hardly any of it ever is," Casine replied. 

Vatrice took a drink from her bottle and reached for the Ann. She hesitated, looking to Casine. 

"May I?" 

"By all means," Casine said. 

Vatrice stretched over to snare the little statuette. She sat still and stared at it, then looked off across the floor. 

"We want what they have," she said quietly. 

"We want the opportunity to have what they have," Reah corrected. Vatrice looked at her and nodded. 

"How many times can a blue-eyed woman win the Diann? The minor award? The secondary honor?" Vatrice whispered. 

"Enough so it ends up like a secret elite club," Casine declared, "like waving a carrot in front of our face, taunting us to want it. To want what we cannot have." 

Vatrice looked up, first at Catrice, then Reah. 

"What about Satille Klein?" she asked. "Didn't she win a Diann a few years back?" 

"Oh, yes, Satille Klein," Reah sat up, throwing her head back to take a drink of water, then lowered the bottle again. 

"We do have to discuss these matters, don't we?" she said to Casine. Casine smiled. 

"Do you need another bottle?" 

"Not yet," Reah answered, "but soon," then she continued. 

"Satille Klein was half Arabic, half Czech, half Turkish." 

Vatrice smiled with amusement. 

"I think she had a white great-great-grandmother who was part of the French monarchy," Reah concluded. 

"That's not true, is it?" Vatrise said laughing. 

"No, it is," Reah answered, very seriously, adding, "a cousin of Marie Antoinette. I think there was a Venusian in there as well." 

"Supposed to appease all the non-whites," Casine stated. 

"Make us all feel included," Reah quipped. "Non-white covers all other races, so we should feel included and as one with the blondes." 

"Oh, my," Vatrice laughed, still clutching the Ann. 

"Dear old Satille," Reah said quietly, staring off now as Vatrice had done, "dear Satille." 

"She was a favorite of mine," Vatrice stated. 

"Just sometimes wonder what it is all for, I guess," Reah said. 

"To inspire others?" Casine answered. 

"I suppose," Reah stated. 

Silence. 

"Even if we wanted to dismiss it," Vatrice stated, "we can't now."

"No," Casine said, "I guess we can't."

"A part of me does hope Peppie gets it," Vatrice said. 

Casine and Reah looked at her, but then realized she simply spoke what they all felt. 

"Dreadful performance," Reah said. 

"Awful," Casine said scornfully. 

"What was with that outfit?" Vatrice said very boldly. 

"Who nominated her for that?" 

"I think," Reah stated, "that she was a fill-in nomination."

Reah sat for a moment, then added, "pretty much the same way mine is." 

Vatrice examined her water bottle before her, that she held in her hands. 

"It could be an overall honor," she stated. "They do like to give those." 

"At the end of the career," Reah laughed. She finished her amusement, then momentarily sat quietly. Then she continued. 

"They give the award to you for a movie nobody remembered because nobody saw it, but that's supposed to elevate you to some elitist position," she stated. 

"And all anyone remembers you for is the small movie you did toward the start of your career," Casine concluded. 

"So," Vatrice finally commented, "they will give the Diann to Peppie, with much fanfare."

"Peppie will give herself more than enough fanfare," Reah said with laughter. 

"She does know how good she is, don't she?" Casine added. 

"I thought that way once," Reah said.

"Didn't we all?" said Casine.

The three women sat in silence, then once again, it was Reah who spoke up. 

"How much longer do we have to wait?"

"Three weeks," Casine answered. 

"If anything," Reah started, "we'll split the vote, sending it to either Peppie or Vicki." 

There was an absolute momentary lull in the conversation, then the three women began to laugh. They continued to laugh. Finally, Reah spoke. 

"Vicki Turner, the fifth Diann nominee."

"Oh, we need to stop," Casine insisted. "This is terrible."

"It is, yes it is," Reah agreed. She cleared her throat. 

Vatrice in turn grew silent. 

"But it's not our fault to be here," Reah said frankly. "We didn't ask for this!" 

"Imagine if one of us wins now," Vatrice said. 

"What sort of acceptance speech do you make?" Casine asked. 

"But we have to," Vatrice said. "One of us will be confronted with such an opportunity just three weeks away." 

"Plenty of time to think of one," Reah said. "Of couse, it won't matter. We could stand up there and praise the devil, no one will hear us. It's going to come down to if Vicki wins or not." 

Reah looked off to the side of the room. 

"They're own fault," she said. "They play these silly little games over this silly award, taunting us with them."

"And we take it," Casine said. 

"We sure do!" Reah agreed. 

"They react in these bizarre, off-the-wall mannerisms like nominating only white women for the Diann, but after this, they may never nominate a white woman again. Maybe that's what they need." 

"Should've nominated all black women every other year," Casine said almost in passing. 

She sat up and looked upon hearing Reah's laughter. She looked to Vatrice who was also amused. 

"They couldn't do that," Reah said with laughter. "It would make too much sense! 

Casine smiled. 

"They'd just nominate the same five women every other year, until each of us had an Ann and a Diann, then on to another set of five women." 

Vatrise chuckled quietly. 

"I do hope Peppie wins it," she said sternly. "If it isn't to be one of us, which I don't think it will. I hope it goes to Peppie." 

"She's everything the organization of voters wants."

"She can be their first Diann of color," Casine said. "Oh, that sounds awful." 

"Did you ask Peppie to join us?" 

Casine sat back and raised her head. 

To have even given Peppie a hint that we wished to discuss if these people are going to either give the first black woman the Diann award of their choosing or they can give it to the mad woman in the prison hospital would have just given her all the exclusive interview material she needed." 

"Oh, yes," Reah commented. "I didn't know if you tried."

"No reason to even bother."

"She's already dominating all the interview sites about how she feels," Vatrice stated. 

"I gave her no indication about us meeting here," Casine said. 

No one spoke for a split-second, then Vatrice commented. 

"That's why I hope she wins it," she said, standing. "She can be everything they want in their first black Diann winner." She walked toward the window and stared outside. 

"Whichever of us wins, it's what they hope," Casine said. "We should be honored."

She looked at her Ann. 

"I'd be the first black woman with a Diann and an Ann," she said. 

Reah looked at her. 

"How many white women are there with a Diann and an Ann?" Vatrice asked, smiling. 

"Oh, who cares?" Reah asked, laughing. Casine joined her. 

The women were amused, then quieted. 

"Give them what they want," Vatrice said. 

"Mm-hm," was heard with no idea who said it. 

"Remember Jenny Wilkinson?" Reah asked the other two. They barely acknowledged who she spoke about. Reah continued. 

"She didn't want me nominated." 

"No," Casine said. 

"Mm-hm," it was now Reah who made the sound.

"Why didn't she want you nominated," Vatrice asked. "You and she weren't nominated against each other that year." 

"She didn't want me to have the chance," Reah said, then added, "she felt Olivia McShane should have been nominated that year for Into the Cry." 

The trio sat silently. 

"To have someone despise you so much," Reah said, staring right at Casine's Ann. Vatrice moved over and set next to Reah and put her arm around her shoulders. Reah rested her head on her shoulders.

"So where is Jenny now?" Casine asked, trying to shift the mood. 

Reah patted VAtrice on her knee as she sat up and Vatrice removed her arm from about her neck. 

"Oh, who cares?" Reah answered. "She showed up in some tv programs, I believe, then seemed to fade away." 

"Except for the first black woman to win the Diann," Casine said. 

"Not the first woman of color, but the first black woman," Reah clarified. 

"if it isn't one of us, then it will be Peppie, who will  receive her accolades as a performer with all the jubilation," Vatrice stated. 

"Maybe Peppie will know deep inside where she stands," Casine commented, "but if it is one of us, then we will know. They had no choice. They didn't want to give the honor to Peppie and they didn't want to give it to the murderress." 

"We would win an award to keep Vicki from receiving the attention," Reah said. 

"What a silly way to do things," Casine said, reaching out for her Ann. "Give us an award to keep it away from a bad headline, or appear to regard the talent and prestige above her victims dying on he side of the road." 

Vatrice brought her hands to her face. 

"I guess now," Reah said, "there will be an unspoken safe guard that at least two white actresses must be nominated, in case one of them has a violent breakdown again." 

"I'm surprised they didn't try to do that this time," Vatrise said. 

Reah looked at Casine rather concerned. 

"Casine?" she asked. "What's happened?" 

Casine didn't look at Reah, but spoke quietly. 

"I received a letter, wanting to know if I could back out," Casine said, "so they could replace me with someone else, no doubt, white, that they could consider over Vicki," she finished, trailing off. 

"You too?" 

Casine looked up astonished to see Vatrice speaking directly to her. 

"You didn't get a letter, did you, Vatrice?"

"They emailed my agent," Vatrice answered. 

"Unbelievable,"Reah declared. 

"Did you get one?" Casine asked her. 

"No," Reah said, "which really does conclude for me that I won't be winning, for whatever reason. I'm not the threat to their elitism."

"But why not just nominate another white woman with Vicki to begin with?" Vatrice asked. 

"Because," Reah said, standing up. "I have to go to the ladies, obviously, but clearly the intention had been no matter if Peppie or I were nominated, the Diann would go to the magnificent English stage actress Victoria Turner." 

"She already has one, don't she?" Casine asked. Reah slowed a bit in the hallway and Vatrice sat laughing. 

"She didn't have to hurt anyone the fist time, did she?" Casine asked. 

Reah could be heard still laughing from the hallway. 

"Lord, girl," she called out. 

Vatrise settled a bit, then said, "sends a bad precedent, doesn't it?" 

Casine looked at her. 

"What?" 

"If they give her the award after What she did last week."

"Oh," Casine said. "I suppose. Appear in a movie then attack innocent people, get an award to your name." 

"surely Peppie didn't get one," Vatrise inquired. 

"Or maybe they should have just replaced Vicki with another white actress." 

"That would really set things off," Vatrice said with laughter. 

"Maybe we should just tell them give it to a white actress, since that's what they want to do anyway," Casine said quietly. 

"Talk about an uphill struggle," Vatrise said. 

"Not even an uphill battle." 

Reah came back at that moment. She rounded the corner and stood before the other two women before she spoke. 

"So they sent each of you a letter or message, asking you to relinquish your nomination, so obviously they could recruit a favorable white woman." 

"Good luck finding that in today's entertainment," Vatrise responded. 

Reah sat down. 

"You want something else?" Casine asked. "Some more water?" 

"No," Reah said. "Not at the moment. I was going to say I have to leave, but I won't. I don't think any of us should part until we fully understand the ramifications of this predicament." 

"And what a predicament it is," Vatrise stated. 

"We were told to have dreams of stardom as children," Casine said, "but not this. Not like this." 

"if you refused to give up even your nomination," Reah said, "they could still go on ahead and circulate that Vicki has gone through an unfortunate situation and they should feel sorry for her." 

"Not sorry for the people in the other car," Vatrise said, "nor for the baby, but for Vicki." 
"And they were white," Reah stated. "How about that?" 

"Do it for Vicki," Casine said very condescendingly. 

"And we?" Reah started, looking first at Vatrise, then to Casine, "we would still be without Diann."