The men barged roughly past Trina who stood looking at them, bewildered as her mother grabbed hold of one of them and tried to stop him from going into the living room.
‘Get out of me house! Get out of me house!’ she yelled. ‘You’re not having me things. It’s all I’ve got.’
But the men ignored her anguished cries and marched straight into the living room. Daisy soon caught up with them and there was a heated discussion. Red Beard took a piece of paper from his clipboard and handed it to Trina’s mother asking if she was able to pay.
‘Not today, but I’ll have the money next week,’ said Daisy.
‘Sorry, but it’s not good enough,’ said the man who then instructed his colleague to start collecting goods in payment.
Daisy ran in front of Crooked Teeth and tried to block his way. ‘No, not me stereo,’ she pleaded. ‘Please don’t take me stereo.’
‘Madam, could you please step out of the way?’ said Red Beard, but Daisy stayed put, blocking his colleague’s path.
‘Very well,’ said Red Beard, putting his clipboard down on the sideboard and stepping towards the TV.
Daisy switched her attention to him. ‘No!’ she yelled. ‘You can’t take the TV. Me kids are watching it. You cruel, cruel man!’
Tyler picked up on his mother’s distress and began wailing while Ellis and Jarell tugged at the man’s clothing to try and stop him getting to the TV. Trina noticed the other man lift the stereo while all the commotion was going on. But she didn’t try to stop him. Something about the officiousness of the two men unsettled her, and she was wary of going against them.
Daisy swung round, looking from one man to the other, unsure who to deal with first. In the midst of her confusion Red Beard unplugged the TV and barged past her carrying it. Ellis and Jarell chased after him, screaming and tugging at his jacket to try to stop him. He set the TV down in the hallway while his partner carried the stereo outside to the van.
Daisy pursued Red Beard through to the kitchen and Trina could hear her mother remonstrating with him over the seizure of more goods. ‘Quick,’ Trina said to her brothers. ‘Let’s get the TV back while it’s still in the hall.’
But by the time the children had gone through to the hall, Crooked Teeth had returned and was already carrying the TV out of the house. Now Ellis and Jarell also began to cry, and Trina felt unshed tears of anguish pricking her eyes.
‘He’s got the TV, Mam!’ she shouted, and Daisy came dashing into the hallway.
‘No!’ shrieked Daisy. ‘How can you do this? Me poor kids.’
By now Daisy seemed to have accepted there was nothing she could do to stop the men. So, instead, she reached out to her two oldest boys, putting an arm round each of them to offer them comfort. But their howling continued. Unsure what else to do, Trina took Tyler into her arms and tried to cuddle him while he struggled to break free and wailed down her ear.
Trina couldn’t understand why her mother had given up the battle to hold onto their things. But she didn’t realise that her mother was far too proud to go out into the street and give the neighbours something to gossip about. Trina felt upset and indecisive. Tyler’s wailing and her other brothers’ crying and screaming was becoming too much. She looked to her mother for guidance but Daisy seemed as defeated as the rest of them, standing there with a solemn frown on her face.
When Daisy eventually snapped and screamed at the boys to shut up, Trina was relieved in a way. She could see the men had almost finished as the pile of things in the hall had now gone. Both of the men were still outside but then Red Beard came back into the hallway and handed Daisy a piece of paper.
‘Here’s a list of the goods we’ve taken in payment,’ he said.
‘They’re not goods!’ screamed Daisy. ‘They’re our things. What are me kids supposed to watch now?’
‘Sorry, love. Just doing my job,’ said the man as he casually walked away.
‘You wicked, wicked men!’ shouted Daisy.
The front door was open, but Daisy seemed past caring about the neighbours or anyone else as she waved furiously at the men and shouted, ‘Bastards!’
Trina heard the sound of the van’s engine starting up. When the vehicle had roared off down the road. Daisy slammed the door shut and pushed her sons away from her.
‘Get out of me sight!’ she yelled.
The boys ran, frightened, down the hallway and up the stairs, with little Tyler trotting clumsily behind. But Trina stayed in the hallway, concerned for her mother. It was the first time she had ever heard her mother use bad language, and it unsettled her.
She looked at her mother who had now stopped shouting. Daisy’s eyes were moist and as the tears slid down her face, she dropped to the floor, covering her face with her hands and bawling. Then Trina’s own tears came and she knelt on the ground, her child’s arms encircling her mother in a futile attempt at comfort.
After a while Trina asked, ‘Why did they take our things, Mam?’
She braced herself for another angry reaction from her mother. But Daisy didn’t shout. Instead, she raised her head and looked at her daughter, her expression one of defeat and humble resignation as she said, ‘Because we don’t have any money, Trina.’
When Daisy slowly walked back towards the kitchen, Trina was hit by a deep sadness. She recognised that this was a bad day for the family, not just because of
