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VISUALIZATIONS |
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CHAPTER ONE I leaned against the rear fender of my '56 Chevy Bel Air in the Carlmont High student parking lot and looked cool, or at least I looked like what I thought cool should look like. |
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CHAPTER ONE Picking up a MOTOR TREND magazine, I flopped on the bed and read all about Speed Week at Bonneville and the 1961 Thunderbird, which I'm pretty sure is the ugliest car Ford ever built. |
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CHAPTER TWO Driving out of the lot, I saw the Negro girl, Ellie Jones, again. She waved at me and gave me another big smile. |
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CHAPTER TWO We spent the next hour talking about Chapter One, which was about how, in algebra, letters are used to express unknown numbers in mathematical equations. |
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CHAPTER THREE I went up to my room and began my English homework, which was to read the first three chapters of a book called TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. Once I got into it, I decided reading that particular book was kind of ironic. |
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CHAPTER FOUR Mother always shopped at Macy's because, as she put it, Macy's is a first-class department store. |
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CHAPTER FOUR The necklace part is a gold chain with a single pearl hanging on it. The pearl was "cultured," which I guess means the oyster had some help making it. The important parts were, it was pretty and I could afford it. |
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CHAPTER FOUR At the Tinder Box, I found a glass humidor jar fitted into a wooden pipe rack that held three pipes. |
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CHAPTER FOUR I knew which album to get because it was the only one with HELLO, MARY LOU on it. |
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CHAPTER FOUR It was a pearl pendant like I got for Diana, except the pearl was a black pearl. Well, the pearl wasn't really black, but that's what the sign called it. The color was really a dark gray that kind of glowed like it had a light inside. |
| CHAPTER FIVE He took Edgewood to Cañada Road, where he turned north for a couple of miles and pulled into Bert's Christmas Tree Farm. |
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CHAPTER FIVE Of course, there were no objections. Bringing hamburgers home was a rare treat, even 15-cent burgers from Henry's. |
CHAPTER FIVE Part of the tree decorating ceremony required Di and I to hang our ornaments as high on the tree as we could reach while Mother took a picture with her Kodak Brownie camera to show how much we'd grown during the past year. |
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CHAPTER SEVEN "Okay, I'll stop at that new McDonald's just past the U-Haul place up here. We can try out their drive-up window." |
CHAPTER EIGHT Di was at the table eating a bowl of Rice Krispies in milk. She said, "You want some snap, crackle, pop?" |
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CHAPTER EIGHT Opening the freezer door, Di said, "What's your pleasure, Salisbury Steak or Turkey with cornbread stuffing?" |
CHAPTER NINE Di and I left the Mayfair Market at Hillsdale Mall with our purchases carefully divided into two bags. |
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CHAPTER NINE . . . we could look down the streets to our right and see a giant Gregory Peck giving an equally gigantic David Niven heck for something. There is a drive-in movie down there. Di said she thought the movie was THE GUNS OF NAVARONE. |
CHAPTER NINE Missus Jones found the Andes Chocolate Mints and let out a whoop. "Diana, I don't know how you knew I love these things, but I do." |
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CHAPTER TEN "Do you think you could look up the number for Sequoia Hospital's Psychiatric Department or the hospital's main number if there's no separate listing for the Psychiatric Department?" |
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CHAPTER TEN I had to laugh. "Super Sister? Sounds like that Flying Nun on TV." Grinning, Di said, "Only I'm way cuter than Sally Field. What else is on your list?" |
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CHAPTER TEN Di asked, "Does the car need that part to run?" "It does. The motor will turn over, but the sparkplugs can't fire without that little gizmo. Just remind me to put it back when we're ready to go home." |
| CHAPTER ELEVEN I know next to nothing about guns, and all I knew about this one was what I could see in front of me. It said "Smith & Wesson" on the barrel, it was a revolver, it had wooden grips, it appeared to be loaded, and it was much too accessible. |
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CHAPTER ELEVEN Di, looking over my shoulder, said, "Holy cow is right. How much is there?" |
CHAPTER TWELVE Di asked, "What good is a credit card in Father's name?" |
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CHAPTER TWELVE The Kingsway Motel was on west side of El Camino north of Ralston Avenue. The motel was built in a rectangle with parking in the center. |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Ellie's mother was overjoyed. She said she loved Chinese food and wanted some of everything on the table. Di obliged her by dishing up a small helping of every item for her. |
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN Di was wearing a sleepshirt with Yogi Bear and Boo Boo on the front and came running across the room to hug me. |
CHAPTER THIRTEEN She took a deep breath. "So that's what happened, and I'm sorry, Den. After that big speech last night about our precious love, I gave into that girl. I let her do what only you should be doing to me." |
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN Di held up a small square packet wrapped in blue foil. |
CHAPTER FIFTEEN I groaned and was already imagining her lips kissing me in other places when a pulsing light suddenly turned the walls of Room Eight a brilliant crimson. |
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CHAPTER FIFTEEN In the hospital lobby, Ellie and Di spoke with a woman at the reception desk. She directed us to the second floor, where we found something called a trauma ward. |
CHAPTER SIXTEEN "There is an expanding file folder here with our birth certificates and other papers about us in it. I think we should take it with us." |
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN She tossed the newspaper on the room's armchair and set the Hide-A-Key box on the table. |
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN There was a parking place right in front of the China Chef take-out place. Di did a great job of parallel parking and in we went. |
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CHAPTER EIGHTEEN While the woman behind the counter wrote our order in what I assumed was Chinese, I took two bottles of Tsingtao Beer out of a self-service beverage refrigerator in the lobby and added them to the order. |
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Back at the Kingsway Motel we had fun feeding each other Chinese food with chopsticks and watching an old John Wayne western called SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON. |
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CHAPTER TWENTY Thank goodness I use a Remington electric shaver I received as a birthday present a few years back. If I had to shave with a razor, I'd have sooner grown a beard. |
CHAPTER TWENTY The first thing we did was hand him the two little blue savings account books from father's desk and asked for an update of the account balances. |
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CHAPTER TWENTY I picked out a keychain with a black and gold Chevy "bowtie" logo for Di. She saw me, and said, "Is that for me?" "It sure is. If you're gonna drive a cool car, you have to look the part," |
CHAPTER TWENTY Di watched me pick up the six-dollar set to look at it. She said, "I thought all we needed was a screwdriver." I nodded. "That's all we came in for, but I think we might be needing a few other tools later on and the only ones we have are Father's in the garage. This set has just about everything we might need, plus a tool box, and it's only six bucks." |
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CHAPTER TWENTY "What in heaven's name is this?" Drawing a picture on a Kingsway notepad, I explained how it worked and why gapping plugs was important. That just got things started. I spent the next half-hour explaining the purpose and proper use of every tool in the box. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE I keep some Bufferin in my bag because I sometimes get cramps. I'll get you a couple. |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Putting my left hand on the keyboard, I started fingering an eight bar boogie bass pattern in the key of B-flat. I wasn't actually playing it; I was just following the music in my head with my hand to see if I could play the line. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE "Take Alameda past Ralston and over the hill. From there, we turn right at about 39th. I think that goes through to the hospital. From there we should see signs to the Emergency entrance." |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Waiting for the plastic ice bucket to fill with miniature cubes, I looked out at El Camino. The traffic was moving right along and I guessed most of the folks in those cars were on their way home to their families. A real family was something precious. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE "Ellie is working at the Hillsdale Mall demonstrating pianos at the Peninsula Pianos and Music store." |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR I didn't have the written music to any Scott Joplin songs, but I picked out a stride ragtime bass line with my left hand that sounded right to me and played it in the strictest rhythm I could manage. I kept playing it over and over until I found the right tempo and could maintain it. When I had it, I adlibbed a right hand melody. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR We found the Travel Inn and I walked into the office. Despite my bruised face, the middle-aged woman with bright red hair behind the counter checked me out in the same way the attendant at the Chevron station checked Di out. |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE I thought I recognized a painting by the cowboy artist, Frederic Remington, on the wall and I got close enough to see it wasn't a print. It was the real deal. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX We ate leisurely breakfasts of oatmeal with sliced bananas at Cindy's, after which we just watched the world go by through Cindy's windows. |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX I mean what if I go off the deep end and try to be another Liberace?" Di laughed. "I can just see you in a sequined costume!" |
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN "Den, where are we going?" |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN As we walked into the lobby, Di stopped and stood there wide-eyed and taking it all in. There was a lot to take in. "Oh, Den, it's a Christmas wonderland!" |
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN A few minutes later we were looking out through a light mist from our room's balcony at another Christmas wonderland. All of the trees—Christmas and otherwise—were decorated with blinking fairy lights and the hotel buildings wore strings of colored lights under their eves. |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN "I'll skip the squab and go for the chicken croquettes." "Actually, that sounds real good to me, too." |
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT "Don't be afraid of the words, Di. They cannot hurt you." "When did you get a license to practice psychiatry?" "Froggy the Gremlin plunked his magic twanger and . . . ." |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT I thought Janet was laying it on a little thick, but Di was hanging on her every word, and it might have been a trick of the light, but I would swear the diamonds in the ring glowed brighter as Di slipped the ring on her finger. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Di said, "We're here for Tabu, if it isn't too expensive." "Tabu? I gather that's a perfume?" |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Di is a great shopper and she has excellent taste. She found the perfect gift; a five-piece Irish cut-crystal decanter with four matching whiskey glasses. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE The Lanai's menu features mostly Chinese and Cantonese style dishes, like Garden Peas with Prawns and Moo Goo Gai Pin. I know those are Cantonese dishes only because the menu said they were, not from any real knowledge of Asian food. |
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CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE Di did drop a Lanai matchbook into her bag as the first item for our souvenir collection she thought we ought to start. |
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE She pointed at the TV screen. "Den, THAT'S OUR HOUSE!" |
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CHAPTER THIRTY The dark mahogany paneling and bookshelves laden with the laws of the ages gave Judge Prost’s office an especially somber feeling that night. Even the antique Regulator clock sounded melancholy as it struck a single chime denoting our arrival. |
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE Then my mind began playing a happy counter-melody with a slide left hand boom-chuck line composer LeRoy Anderson would have liked. |
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CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO Di and I got to Lyon's a few minutes early so we could grab a table before all the shoppers out in the mall suddenly decided they were hungry. |
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO "It's a beat up forty-eight Chevy business coupe, but they did an engine swap. It had a souped up Chevy small block in it the last time I saw him showing it off at school. The car is primer gray." |
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CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE After seeing Ellie safely to her room at the Villa, Di and I went to our room. The illuminated RCA clock radio on the nightstand showed the time as 9:55. |
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR A young woman with bright red rouge on her cheeks and dressed in a red and green elf costume stepped up to the center microphone. |
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CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE The mall security guy pressed the talk button on his walkie-talkie and repeated my description of Elliot Garcia. |
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE "Mister Wallace, I've been instructed to escort you to the hospital and to stay close in case you need any other assistance." |
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CHAPTER THIIRTY-FIVE "Ellie is in surgery getting patched up. They said the prognosis is good, considering."
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX Di turned on the TV and found the film WHITE CHRISTMAS with Bing Cosby and Danny Kaye. She said, "What do you think? Can we stand seeing WHITE CHRISTMAS yet again?" "That's like a tradition, isn't it? It wouldn't seem like Christmas without watching WHITE CHRISTMAS." |
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CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX For dinner we were each having sirloin steak accompanied by a baked potato with sour cream and chives, along with string beans and almond slivers. |
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN When the gift shop opened its door, Super Sister demonstrated her super shopping skills by quickly finding a nifty little gift for Ellie. It was a cute hand-painted wooden ornament depicting Santa with a Christmas tree on his sled. |
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CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT Standing back to admire the Prost's Christmas tree, Di said, "Den look at all the old-fashioned ornaments on the tree! They're beautiful!" Judge Prost said, "Thank you, Diana. Some of those ornaments are older than I am, and that's downright ancient." |
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT Di joined in and we sang carols all the way to the hospital. It was another first for us. |
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CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE At the hospital, I noticed Christmas decorations in the lobby. They must have been there that morning, but I was oblivious to them. That said something about my Christmas spirit, or the lack of it. |
CHAPTER FORTY Inside the box was a shiny gold Bulova wristwatch with a black leather strap. |
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CHAPTER FORTY Inside the cardboard box I found a four-string ukulele with a lovely, polished woodgrain finish. I said, "Di, it's beautiful!" |
CHAPTER FORTY "My girlfriends all had crushes on Elvis or Ricky Nelson, but not me. I wanted my big brother or nothing." |
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CHAPTER FORTY-TWO I drove down El Camino and pulled into Henry's hamburger joint. |
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO Schneider's is a clothing store on Laurel at Cherry in San Carlos. There, we found a white cotton shirt with a button-down collar for a couple of bucks, but we also ended up with a new brown corduroy sport coat because the one I was wearing Christmas Eve also had some stains. |
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CHAPTER FORTY-TWO "Makes sense to me. Are you hungry now?" |
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR At the Bank of America, we deposited the check for nine thousand into my savings accounts |
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CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR In the luggage department, Di found a Samsonite soft-sided bag with a collapsing handle and wheels. |
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE There was a new-looking white four-door Chevy Biscayne sedan in the second bay. |
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CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE It only took about twenty minutes to follow the marshals from Judge Prost's home to our new temporary residence on Cranfield Avenue. The house looked to be only a couple of years old and was set well back and at an angle to the road. |
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE On that note, we headed off to do our shopping at Lee Brothers. We came back loaded down with several bags of groceries. |
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CHAPTER FORTY-SIX Dean's variety store in the Carlmont shopping center at Alameda and Ralston had a large display of flashlights and batteries. We picked out two flashlights. One is an Eveready "Captain" lantern with a screw-on six-volt battery . . . . |
CHHAPTER FORTY-SIX While I was waiting to pay for our stuff, Di ran back and grabbed a Swiss Army knife with enough tools on it to build a house. |
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CHAPTER FORTY-SIX I looked and recognized the green Ford in our driveway as the one driven by Marshal Todd and his partner. |
CHHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN I was glad I followed Di's suggestion to back into the garage when we were out earlier. There was so much water running down the driveway the headlights were a big help in getting up the driveway to Cranfield Avenue, even with the Chevy's windshield wipers on their highest setting. |
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CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT Our objective was the J.J. Newberry store behind Mayfair market. Newberry's is on two levels. |
CHHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT Then came the most exciting find of all: two-tone Paper Mate pens in car colors. |
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CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT While we waited in the checkout line, Di said she hoped she hadn't taken too long to pick out the sewing items, and I told her I was on pins and needles the whole time. I got the idea she thought my sewing humor was corny. |
CHHAPTER FORTY-NINE I opened their thick solid wood front door, and while holding it open for Di, I noticed it was secured from the inside by an electronic lock. |
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CHAPTER FORTY-NINE The dayroom is furnished with chairs and tables sort of like a dining room. I guessed card games and board games, like Monopoly, were frequently played at the tables. |
CHHAPTER FORTY-NINE "Does that mean you were checking out Jeanie's butt?" |
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CHAPTER FIFTY Di shook some Rice Krispies into a bowl, added milk, and then she sat with me at the kitchen table and watched while she ate her cereal. |
CHAPTER FIFTY Di brought out a paperback she bought days ago, but hadn't gotten a chance to begin reading. It was Ian Fleming's new James Bond adventure, THUNDERBAL |
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CHAPTER FIFTY I am very glad to see you have kept this beautiful car in pristine and original condition. To me, that indicates someone who is likely to be a safe and careful driver." |
CHHAPTER FIFTY "Dennis I thoroughly enjoy your way of plain speaking. You sometimes put me in mind of Will Rogers. Do you know who he was?" |
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CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE Di picked up the book Ellie wanted and the darn thing looked like the thickest book on the shelf. I picked up the new edition of MOTOR TREND with a cool red Dodge Dart convertible on the cover. |
CHHAPTER FIFTY-TWO |
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CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE "Hello! Just checking in. I've been assigned to keep an eye on things here. I'm leaving my car out there where it can be seen. It might help keep the bad guys at bay." |
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE Di seemed to be looking at the wooden baton in her hand with new appreciation. "And do you know where to strike someone?" |
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CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR We enjoyed a festive New Year's Eve dinner, and as a bonus, Ellie learned how to heat up tamales and make instant Spanish rice, which put her two culinary steps ahead of me. |
CHHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR After that, he picked up Todd's pistol and turned toward our house. Coming from somewhere alongside the house, Markley appeared and Garcia handed him Marshal Todd's pistol. |
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CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE "Do I need patching up?" The doctor said, "Only if you want to keep what blood you have left from leaking out all over your shirt through this inconvenient bullet hole in your arm." |
CHAPTER FiFTY-SIX Di got up and poured hot water into a cup of Folger's instant coffee. "Here you go, Darling. You know what Ellie was telling me?" Managing to get some coffee in my mouth without dribbling, I swallowed and said, "I can't imagine. What was Ellie telling you?" |
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CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX A fellow pulled a 4x5 press camera from the back seat and headed in my direction. I met him halfway. |
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT Di cut some apple wedges and put the plate on the coffee table for a snack. I took one and chomped it. |
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CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE I turned south on El Camino Real and headed for the car dealership at 1101 El Camino Real in Redwood City. For Dinah it would be a nostalgic visit. E-Z Davies Chevrolet was her first home before Grandfather Clarence showed up one day and took her to a new home. |
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE Di and I were threading our way through the cars when she suddenly stopped and pointed. "That one!" |
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CHAPTER SIXTY The two-bedroom apartment was on the ground floor across the back of the U-shaped building with no apartment above it. |
CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE Five hundred dollars and some change later, we left with a 17-inch Zenith Chromacolor table top television, complete with a remote control and a stand. |
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CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE We also found a nifty portable Zenith stereo phonograph that saved space with a fold-down turntable. |
CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO Ellie and Di had a simple dinner of Campbell's Bean With Bacon soup and crackers. I wasn't hungry. |
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CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE Di fixed an old-fashioned farm-style breakfast, which provided an opportunity for Ellie to learn the proper technique for cooking eggs sunny-side-up and frying bacon crispy. We even had a platter of Di's home-fried potatoes. |
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE He agreed wholeheartedly with my ideas for some subtle upgrades, which would include a chrome Sun tachometer mounted on his steering column, a black vinyl tonneau cover, and chrome exhaust extensions. |
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CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE Linus Jones told Ellie to be at the Black Hawk a little before 8:00 p.m., and we were. We were also lucky and found a parking place on Hyde Street in front of the 222 Club which is the Black Hawk's next-door neighbor. (Cal Tjader shown) |
CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE When I wound BIRDLAND down, Linus said, "Well, I'll be damned!" The drummer said, "Uh-huh. We don't need you no more, Linus. We got us a white boy here that can play real honest to God jazz. Do another one, son." |
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CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR POP HITS publishes lyrics and guitar chords for recent popular songs, and the fact that Di bought the magazine told me she was enjoying our little songfests. The song she wanted to try singing was MAMA SAID, which was recorded by Shirelles not long ago. |
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX Missus Diana Wallace and I were sharing a double-wide wooden chaise on the deck of our new home on Hartford Avenue in the hills above San Carlos and Belmont. |
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CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX We were holding hands and watching the lights below twinkle at the end of a very busy day. |
