Further Adventures (31 page)

“Likewise. And here’s a little tidbit left over especially for you. I put
oodles
of Commie propaganda in every episode I wrote. In every episode you approved. Something’s there. Showing up the rotten foundations of this stinking company and this stinking society. My messages of hope that
he
”—Lamont singled me out—“Young Ray Green there sang out with such fellow feeling to the lumpen American radio public. My messages of hope!”

“Oodles.” Silverstein frowned.

“Oodles and oodles. You think about it in bed tonight.”

“I think we’ve heard all we want to from you Lamont.”

“AND ANOTHER THING…” Lamont Carruthers mowed down the whole gathering with a sweep of his arm. “Say good-bye to exploitation of the wage slave! The days of fat cats hitching a free ride on the Gravy Train are coming to a goddamned fiery end!”

“We can rush him,” Spiller proposed.

“Oh fine!” Lamont leaned back & gave out with a Daredevil laugh. “Bring on the police—the blunt instrument of the oppressors of the masses…! The streets will run red with the blood of capitalist exploiters!” Then the window latch clicked & he thumped his chest. “This machine kills Fascists!”

I know I cried his name out I shrieked it from a few feet away & I know I got a grip on his ankle with both of my arms wrapped around him before I felt Lamont teeter backward. I squeezed my eyes shut & held on for his dear Life when I heard the window sigh open but I will not testify I felt him fall out. My memory of the moment AND I WAS THE CLOSEST PERSON TO HIM was Lamont pushed himself through it he
pushed
himself so I could not stop him. I clutched very hard & tight with the wind whistling in around my ears where I kneeled under the freezing window seat. I still had Lamont’s wooden leg standing in my arms and the window was slapping in & out like a loose sail. It was Ethel Spiller who stepped in & forced it shut then
after she did that she pulled me free from the leg and all Pandemonia broke out.

Furthermore I honestly Regret I was the last person out of there since I never got the chance to say Good-Bye to others who were near to me in that time no matter what the circumstances. To Bernhardt Grym & Annie LaSalle. To Leon Kern & Mr. Burrows. To David Arcash & Howard Silverstein. You must say something when things finish between Friends the same as a Funeral i.e. words do not change the Sad Fact but they settle it permanent in your Mind.

A unhappy shock was all lined up & waiting for me on the newsstands in the Station. The morning edition of every newspaper & right on the front page of the
New York Times
was guess what yes it was a photograph of Lamont lying facedown in a pond of blood as if he fell asleep & drowned in it. This photo was snapped by the great Weegee & it became very famous by its own rights. More famous than Lamont Carruthers & more than The Green Ray. I even saw it in a special edition of
Life
Magazine they brought out 20 years ago & if I look at it now it moves my Heart the same. I preserved that issue around here somewhere I think it is in the pile inside the bathroom.

I claim Amelia Vasquez is my Dearly Beloved Wife! I base it on the Act of Love between us which occurred right after I soothed Dolores in her Asthma Attack. What do I need a Law from somewhere to make it official? It all came very Natural this time on both parts i.e. no nerves no
jitters before during or after. This qualifies as Genuine I believe. I can not testify Amelia loved me to the exact degree anyway I can not tell the difference for I am missing the Experience in this area to compare.

This is 5 days ago I am telling about here.

Usually I do not wake up very early in the Morning by my Nature I am a night owl & anything before 10 A.M. is a mystery to me. Except this A.M. in question I opened my eyes & looked at the clock it said thereabout 7:00. Maybe it was the knot of Cramps in my stomach from the undigested Tequila plus all the jumping around in the bedroom with my wife Amelia that changed my sleep routine. My Mental condition I will describe it was very calm
because I belonged somewhere
i.e. right there with Amelia & Dolores. Even if such a thrill enters a person’s Life closer to the end & not the beginning it is just as strong it urges him
Contemplate the Future
and
Look forward to new experience
even the hard times ahead because you will be there side by side.

At that hour Amelia’s side was not by my side I lay in bed on my ownsome. The Sounds of the outside world seeped in on me they woke me further. The tea kettle wheezing a high note in the kitchen & there was Mexican music playing on the Radio out there too. I smelled burnt toast. But I did not get out of bed no I lay there contemplating for a few Minutes. Being alone I learn can be a very Endearing thing if a person knows it is only temporary. If he knows all he has to do is walk to the other room & there she is the woman he knows so intimate who knows him likewise. This is a Endearing Moment this is a rare sensation in my experience & I am glad I encountered it finally.

Here I account for my Actions between then & 7 A.M. the next morning October 7 1989. I hope you will agree how my Story conforms to every physical fact—

I did not loll around I turned left from the bedroom door & another left to the kitchen. First I thought Amelia does not have the know-how or the knack of making breakfast! You know the old joke of the Bride
who can not boil a hard-boiled egg etc. but that is what I saw on the stove—a dry pan with a couple of eggs in it & the eggshells scorched black. The boiling water in the kettle whistling Dixie at the top of its lungs & the burned toast a fire hazard clogging the toaster.

Amelia did not come out from anywhere when I called her name neither did Dolores. The back door was open & this time I got the message I was alone in the house. It was no picnic this moment a chill like a boa constrictor twisted around me very tight. This minute your Life is going this direction & something happens & a minute later you are facing some other way. Before it was this After it is that. And a person has to move or else he sinks in the Quicksand of the Moment.

I did not sink I went out the back door. The Footprints all over the dirt around the patio looked like a Arthur Murray dancing lesson say the Apache or the Tango. In the middle of them I found Amelia’s nightshirt & all the buttons torn off also torn around the collar. Out of the mess of Footprints a trail of them went up the hill behind her house into the shrubs & bushes. I followed them like a bloodhound.

It punched a hole in my stomach it tore me in half the sight I ran into the shock of it choked the Breath out of me. Amelia lying on her back all naked & her head in the broken branches on the bush where they threw her. Her eyes were open she stared at nothing like she was paralyzed in a hypnotic trance or trying to remember where she was or what comes next. Or stunned open by her last sight which was Nilo’s fat face while he was dragging her by her pretty nightshirt. Nilo’s lardy arms & legs around her to pin her down with one hand over her mouth & the other one squeezing her throat. Amelia helpless in his power.

Dolores I did not find not head nor tail.

I do not know when Amelia died I can not note the exact time of demise. By my calculations it is between 6 A.M. and 6:45 A.M. October 6 1989. It was Nilo who strangled her to death but I accuse John Newberry it was his Invisible Hand which deprived me of my Love.

“Ooh-hoo…Oooh-hoo!” I cried over her I slumped down on my knees by her side. “Ooh-hoo!” I kissed her face I patted her hand & I cradled her but it did not change anything. You can not bring the Dead back by your Love nor you can not by physical methods either when they are gone let go of them do not cling. I feel Death is something you can not affect by mind over Matter so what is the point. Amen.

Automatic behavior took over then I did not linger & mourn I ran back inside I was thinking of Dolores. What if she was a Eyewitness to this crime? In my state of high emotion I went all over the house in every room I searched for her. I was not ready to believe the Obvious i.e. Dolores was gone too because look how she walked in the front door that time. This time she did not escape to safety I had to swallow this repulsive fact.

From the bedroom closet I took out Amelia’s favorite clothes her flowery shirt & her white dress with the parrots on it to bury her in. In there I smelled her Fragrance in the Air around me a few molecules of Amelia that still remain on Earth. I believe they contain the memory of our Dear Moments or else where do they go? Dissolved in a vacuum? Let me call it 20 Minutes I stood there & breathed her in from her shirt.

By the Evidence I believe Nilo only stayed long enough to get Amelia out of the house & kidnap Dolores. He did not Ransack the rooms he did not steal her jewels nor he did not look for John Newberry’s love letters. I found those valuable belongings where I left them—the bracelets & rings etc. in the straw suitcase I wedged behind the toilet & the Love Letters inside my pants folded in half. And my Snubnose .38 in there too plus the bullets in my back pocket.

Here is how I buried Amelia.

I dressed her I brushed her hair I washed her face & hands. I dug a grave next to the place she died so I did not disturb her further. You can find her & bury her correct by Catholic customs I did not say any Prayer at the time I was too upset & exhausted from digging. She is still there as
far as I know. I collected rocks until 3 P.M. it took me many hours to carry over enough of them to mark Amelia’s grave & build it into a decent Tomb. You will find her jewels in with her all of them except a gold ring which I am wearing for my Wedding Band. The rest is buried treasure & I include my dear Amelia in this description.

A Scorpion crawled out of the pile of rocks over Amelia. It sat on the back of my hand it did not try & sting me it just sat. I know there is a natural explanation but I do not want to hear it. Do not quote me Insect Behavior in a hot temperature la-dee-doo-dah etc. I believe it is beyond it is connected to something higher. This little living creature which means something in particular to Amelia being by the Zodiac a Scorpio came to me in the exact minute I was thinking so tender of her so I say maybe the Zodiac is not altogether boloney. It could be the way a person is connected to the Stars so what so Dr. Nobel Prize did not discover the scientific terms for it yet. The smartest Neanderthal did not know about Electricity!

As soon as the scorpion crawled off me I went back inside to pick up my weapons to pursue Justice. I took Newberry’s sacred love letters & I loaded the bullets into my gun then I sealed my solemn Pledge—I aimed over my head & fired off a shot so that is how the bullet hole got into Amelia’s kitchen ceiling. “Now I am dangerous!” I yelled this as if Newberry could hear my Voice wherever he was. Then I was prepared since I heard exactly how loud this gun Sounds when it goes off so I will not be nervous about the noise I will not hesitate when I have to shoot it again. At 4 P.M. I walked out of Amelia’s house in Tres Osos. The only plan clear in my mind was I had to pursue John Newberry & reap Havoc.

I have got my own Personal Theory Of Relativity. In specific here it is:

A minute late or early in many Spheres will cause a different End Product entirely. The Sphere of Buses is a perfect example of my P.T.O.R. in action. The bus going to Juarez was waiting at the bottom of the hill
when I came down parked there like it was waiting to carry me to my Rendezvous With Destiny. A gust of wind kicked up the dust of the road & somewhere on the other side of the ragged red cloud swirling in front of me the rattling motor of that old bus choked & growled so I ran for it. Ran & missed!

Here is where Relativity comes in. If I caught that bus by the time I got to my destination Newberry’s gunsels would be on Red Alert on the lookout. The shoeshine boy—the little girl selling postcards of Virgin Mary—the Redcap—it could be
anybody
he employs they spot me & my strive for Justice is over. The beauty part of missing that Juarez bus was it turned it into my temporary decoy & bought me time to think.

The dust uncurtained the long stretch of empty road ahead a long walk also a Opportunity to iron out the lumps of my new Plan.

PLAN A—1

1. Sneak across the Border (puts me near Azalea N.M.)
   
2. By bus get to my Apartment + shower + nap
   
3. Hide Newberry’s Love Letters in a box in the bank
   
4. Track J.N. down & advise him I possess his valuable possessions
   
5. Force him by this Knowledge to surrender & turn himself in
   

By a walk 10 Hours I got close enough to throw a rock across the U.S. Border. Also I was covered in dirt from head to toe & my sweaty clothes did not help me portray a man who Means Business. But this miserable appearance was to my advantage since the rags & grime disguised my Gringo identity. I was Mr. Anonymous in the Mexican crowd so I drank beers & ate tortillas like a Native on the back porch of a Cantina.

The cook came out & sat beside me & lit a cigarette. Very polite he offered me one but I am a 100% Non-Smoker so I refused it by a charm
ing smile. He pulled hard on his smoke then let it out slow & steady it was like breathing fresh Air to him. He smiled & nodded then he said a few words to me but I can not tell you which words exactly since they were in Mexican. I smiled at what he was telling me & nodded some more. So he kept the Conversation Ball rolling. I knew it was a question from him by the way his Voice went up at the end of it.

“Mm,” I said & nodded.

“Claro,” he nodded back.

“Claro,” I agreed with his point.

He made sure the coast was clear by a glance in the screen door of the Cantina & took out a bottle from under his apron. Before he opened it he stubbed out his cigarette in the dirt he made a big production out of it wiggling his fingers over the bottle to portray leaping flames.

Another glance behind us then he held the bottle up so the light shined through it. He shook it & tapped the bottom to show me something inside. I will tell you what & you will not believe me but my hand to God what he wanted me to appreciate was a dead worm. A dead worm curled up on the bottom of the bottle! So I am going to drink something that is a Fire Hazard plus it kills insects plus this drink is on top of the beers & tortillas I had already.