“Tyrone! I’m not fighting you over this! Verónica is working for Weiss! He’s the idiot who’s trying to get the devices from us. Why do you think she keeps asking you about them?”
“Jive sucker! I don’t care what you think! You better back off before I slap your ugly black face right here!” Tyrone retaliates. “You can’t any woman to pay attention to you anyway! No wonder Sylvia thinks you’re a weirdo. Now, I know you love men! Sorry no good PUNK!” A chorus of laughter arises from other teens standing nearby.
David feels that he is losing whatever self-control he is desperately trying to hold onto. “Now, I know you didn’t mean that!” He yells. “I’m trying to make you realize you’re being used by this conniving woman and now you’re acting like the fool, Negro jackass your mama gave birth to!”
“Guys! Stop this! This has gone far enough!” Nathan demands as he steps between the two. “Everybody’s talking crazy now!”
Tyrone instinctively pushes his brother to one side. His face reddens with anger. “Fool? Negro jackass? I’m gonna show you what this jackass can do to an ugly black monkey like you!” Emulating his favorite world heavyweight champion, Mohammed “I am the Greatest” Ali, Tyrone pulls his fist back, aims for David’s chest and throws a stinging punch. David falls over backward over two chairs before hitting the floor. Loud hoots, cheers and hollering erupt from the other teens as they edge the fight on. “Stop it! Both of you!” Verónica screams. Still lying on the floor, David briefly examines the blood on his lip. He loses it. He gets up and throws a counter punch that sends Tyrone reeling backward over another set of chairs.
“Oh God! What have I done?” David thinks as a surge of guilt sweeps over him. He has just punched one of his best friends over a woman. Cursing louder, Tyrone quickly stands up. “That’s enough! Both of you stop it right now!” Nathan screams as tries desperately to quell the battle. He interposes himself between the two.
Again, Tyrone angrily pushes Nathan aside. Cursing, Nathan trips over a chair and falls flat on his back. The physical pain Tyrone feels is relatively small compared to the explosive anger that has consumed him. He picks up a chair and throws it. David ducks hard as the chair flies past him and smashes into a nearby counter. Screaming for dear life, two teenage sisters, Karen Savage and Davida Savage, run for cover.
Three other teenager women at another table; Deborah Vaughan, Robin Connors and Pamela Holmes begin running for the exit. Other patrons scatter in various directions as total pandemonium ensues. A few teenagers begin yelling and laughing, as they continuously urge the fight on. “Hit ‘em again! Hit ‘em again! Slam that no good mutha’!” James Bethea yells while making fighting motions with his fists. Along with Bethea, three others; Milton Boone, Clinton Daniels and Jerome Dawson are also urging on the fight. Tyrone picks up another chair and begins swinging it at David. David picks up a chair and successfully blocks Tyrone’s chair. Tyrone is in a boiling rage.
“Tyrone!” David yells. “Stop it before one of us gets hurt or killed!” Realizing his mistake, David desperately tries to end the fight. “Forget you! Sorry no good bastard!” Tyrone yells as he attempts another swing. The edge of his chair clips David’s finger forcing him to drop the chair.
Stepping back to escape Tyrone’s next swing, he watches as Tyrone raises the chair for the downward thrust. “Tyrone! I’m not going to fight you any longer!” He pleads. “Hurting me won’t solve this!”
Despite being edged on by the crowd, Tyrone pauses as he sees the painful look on his friend’s face. Tyrone is experiencing a wave of conflicting emotions as he is threatening to do bloody harm to his best friend, whom he loves, in a brawl over the woman whom he also loves.
He slams the chair down inches from David and steps back. “STUPID IDIOT! Have you lost your freakin’ mind? What the hell has gotten into you?”
David can see the rage, as well as the deep hurt on Tyrone’s face. During the entire time he has known Tyrone, he has never seen Tyrone this furious. Slowly, David stands up and backs away. “I was trying to protect you!” David wipes more blood from his lip.
“Ay, Dios Mío! Por Favor!” Verónica screams. “Tyrone, Todo esto a sido un error.” Closing her eyes, she covers her mouth with her hands. The distant sound of police sirens begins to make everyone nervous. Tyrone turns to her a stunned look on his face.
“Mistake? What do you mean that this was all a mistake?”
On opening her eyes, Verónica quivers as she strains to tell Tyrone the awful truth. “Arlene contacted me two weeks ago and told me that I could make a lot of money if I did a job for her. Mr. Weiss paid me the money to get information from you. I only pretended to like you. I’m sorry, baby.”
With heavy guilt and fear, Verónica finally admits to Tyrone the game that she had playing on him all along. Suddenly, her life, devoid of meaningful purpose, flashes before her. Born in East Harlem, New York on 23 June 1955 to Juanita Hernandez and James Powers, Verónica had initially set her sights on a career in nursing. After entering high school, she fell in love with Antonio López Rodriguez, whom affectionately referred to her as his Spanish Rose.
They were nearly inseparable. Tragedy had changed all of this when her father was shot and killed on 2 February 1968. James inadvertently found himself caught in a gun battle crossfire between two gangs, Sureños and the Latin Kings. Two weeks later, NYPD officers arrested and charged Eduardo José Payano, 18, with the murder. Six months later, Juanita, Verónica and Taneshia moved to Los Angeles, California to stay with relatives in a low middle class neighborhood near 54th Street and St. Andrews Place. In September of 1968, Verónica enrolled into Crenshaw High School-home of the Crenshaw Cougars. Her father’s murder, unfortunately, had already taken a devastatingly toll on her. Although her mother had a considerable influence on her, her father was the authoritative, yet caring male figure in her life. In time, her grades and career aspirations plummeted. In late September of 1970, she quit high school and became a street prostitute. To her, Tyrone was simply another one of her paying clients.
“I don’t believe you!” Tyrone yells back at her, as no woman had ever walked out on him. Verónica turns and heads for the door. Tyrone is stunned with disbelief as she begins walking off. “Where are you going?
He yells after her. “You can’t just walk out on me like that! We have a good thing going!” The others present can sense Tyrone’s pleading.
Verónica turns back toward him. She has a look of pity on her face.
The police sirens are becoming louder. “Tyrone! You’re a sweet guy.” Her voice cracks. “But it was all just a game. I’m sorry. I really am. Goodbye.”
Tyrone watches as Verónica turns away and runs out of the door and out of his life without bothering to look back again.
“Dudes!” Nathan yells. “Let’s blow this taco stand before the fuzz shows up and throw us in the slammer!” Tyrone, still eyeing David with anger, runs out of the door and jumps into the back seat. David and Nathan run and jump into the front seat. Nathan starts the car, throws the gear into drive and hits the accelerator. With the rear tires screeching, the car bolts away. Twenty seconds later, two Anonwood police cruisers come to a screeching halt in front of the Deli. Two police officers quickly exit each cruiser with their pistols drawn.
4THE PAINFUL TRUTH
The Clark Residence
Friday, 2 August 1974 (1:40 PM)
After placing two Cornish hens into the preheated oven. She used the right amount of cooking sherry to marinate the meat for that right taste. Walking into the living room, she spots two of her daughters, Diane and Samantha, watching television. “Dinner will be ready by four. Have either of you seen Sylvia?” She asks them after walking into the living room.
“No, I have not!” Diane responds, giving her mother a sharp look.
“Don’t get sassy with me, young lady!” Janez angrily warns her oldest daughter. “Do that again and I’ll slap that face blue to add to that black!”
“Mother! I
’m upstairs doing research!” Sylvia yells from upstairs.
“Don’t eat any sweets! Dinner will be ready soon.”
“Okay, mother!”
After watching Diane, Samantha tries hard to hold back from laughing.
“You better not be laughing at me,” she tells Samantha. Suddenly, Samantha hears the sound of loud voices coming from outside.
“Mother! Tyrone and David are fighting for the eleven hundredth time,” she states casually while continuing to watch television.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! What are those boys fighting about this time?” As Janez rushes to the door, Samantha and Diane quickly follow her. Always wanting to be in on the action, Sylvia bolts out of her room and comes running down the stairs. All four gasp at a dramatic sight. Out of frustration, Janez lowers her head in her right hand.
“I am through with you,” Tyrone yells, “your crazy ideas and those stupid devices!”
“It’s not only about the devices, Tyrone! It’s about us as friends. She admitted the truth and you’re blaming me!”
With heightened interest, Diane looks at David, who seems to be an entirely different person when he is angry.
“Lame screwed up sucker! Of course I’m blaming you!”
“Tyrone! Stop calling names,” his mother interrupts him. “Now what is it this time?”
“Woman! Get lost!” Tyrone tells her in his mind.
David carefully approaches Tyrone and stops just a few feet behind him. “I can’t get through that head of yours! Can I?”
Tyrone stops and turns around. Scowling, he points a defiant finger. “Ya’ know David, you are one selfish mutha’! You’re forever thinking that this situation is all about you, like you’re some sort of chosen one!”
“I know you don’t mean that!” David objects.
“Oh yes I do, Einstein! All you big-headed physicists are all alike! Y’all swear you’re smarter and better than everyone else!”
David feels himself losing his temper again. “I can’t help it if you feel unsure of your own abilities.”
“Unsure? Who the hell you think you’re talking to? I ain’t unsure of anything! I can get any freakin’ thing I want plus any freakin’ woman I want!” Tyrone boasts. Verónica’s rejection has intensified his anger at David. “Your social life ain’t worth bull crap! All the other guys are into sports and music. All you do is write stupid physics essays! No wonder all the guys poke fun at you! You’re a freakin’ nerd!”
“Tyrone! David! That’s enough!” Nathan yells. Both of y’all are making this worse than what it really is.”
“No, Nathan, it’s okay. Let him scream his lungs out!” David is unable to hide his pain and embarrassment any longer.
Sylvia’s view of David is beginning to change, as she takes notice of his actions. The anger he was fighting to hold back finally erupts.
“Do you think this was any easier for me?” He yells, throwing his hands out. “You let me tell you something! The only freakin’ woman you can get is some half-naked street ho! Verónica was screwing your ignorant black tail and making a total fool of you! You meant only money to her! Even your own sisters could see that! And now, you’re blaming me.
Like a hard slap in the face, Tyrone is struck by David’s retaliatory statements. Diane and Sylvia glance at each other. “You’re the one who’s screwed! No good punk!” He screams in return.
David ceases to care anymore. As far as he is concerned, his friendship with Tyrone is over. “Then go back to her!” He yells. “Go back to your precious Latino girlfriend! You’ll probably find her in Southside LA on Figueroa Street, along with the rest of her cellmates. And when she takes you for everything you have, you’ll end up as you always do-with nothing!” He turns and walks away.
Tyrone picks up a rock and begins to throw it at David. Nathan grabs Tyrone’s hand and forces it down.
“Whose side are you on?” Tyrone screams. Having seen enough, Janez runs out and stands in front of Tyrone. “Get in that house now before I start hitting somebody!” She threatens him. David drives off.
The Weiss Residence
Friday, 2 August 1974 (2:00 PM)
“¡Mira!Ya he tenido suficiente!” Verónica tells Arlene. “I’m calling it quits. You two can get someone else to do your dirt.” Verónica’s decision dismays Arlene. Verónica has seen more than her share of brawls and the last one between Tyrone and David is the last straw for her. “I’m heading back east! I’m through with being every guy’s private peep show and I am through with the freakin’ Golden State.”
“I thought you were used to this kind of stuff,” Arlene states. Anthony, standing a short distance away, is highly disappointed.
“Give the woman her severance pay and let her go. I’ve learned enough. I’ll do this my way from now on.”
“Tony! Give her more time,” Arlene responds, almost pleading. She is becoming fearful of how Anthony may handle the situation. She is certain that he would now stop at nothing to obtain what he wants. “I said NO!” Anthony angrily yells. “I said I’ll do this my way! Now let her GO!” Angered, Arlene goes into a drawer and pulls out ten one hundred-dollar bills. Verónica takes the money and puts it in her purse. She walks out the door, gets into her car and drives off. Her next destination, after packing up, is a medium-size east coast city where her aunt had earlier invited her to stay, Norfolk, Virginia. She has decided to remake her life all over again.
Anthony walks up to Arlene with an angry look in his eyes. “We don’t need her anymore. I’ve learned enough. Ever since I found that book in that attic thirty-two years ago, I knew I was onto something!”
“Tony! Please!” Arlene protests, “Spare me another history lesson! You’ve told me that lame story ten times already and I am thoroughly sick of hearing it!” She sits on the couch with an angry scowl on her face.
Even as Anthony looks briefly at her with disbelief, he remembers the event vividly. The date is 7 August 1942. World War II is still raging in the Pacific.
Mark Weiss, his father, is a loader for a Bofors dual mount 40mm anti-aircraft gun aboard the battleship USS South Dakota (BB-57). Commissioned nearly five months earlier, the USS South Dakota (called Battle X) is engaged in the Guadalcanal Campaign. Back on the mainland, in Eureka, California, things are much different. In this Victorian coastal town, Anthony Weiss; age 14, William “Bill” Oss; age 14, and Wayne Joyce; age 13, have little to do on this hot summer Friday evening. They are the best of friends looking for fun and excitement. On this day, they find both. The three teenagers come to an old and abandoned house at the end of one particular dead-end street. Tall grass and weeds surround the Victorian style, two-story house. Once there, William Oss gets an idea. The others agree. The previous owner of the house, an elderly woman by the name of Louise Matty Whittington, had died two weeks earlier.
After the teenagers sneak around to the back, William breaks the back door in. Surprisingly, much of the furniture is still in place awaiting transportation. After rummaging through the downstairs, they head upstairs to the bedrooms. They use king-sized bed sheets to hold as many items as possible. Next, they break into the attic; a veritable treasure room filled with various items from decades past. A quick trip to the local neighborhood pawnshop is now in the offering. They began ransacking drawers, boxes and whatever else they could find.
As Anthony opens one wooden floor chest, he finds antique brass candlesticks, jewelry, old hardback books and stacks of old photographs. One particular wrinkled and yellowed photograph shows an elderly married couple. After flipping the photograph over, Anthony sees the names of the couple, Thomas Oliver Cubins and Sarah Lenora Cubins, written on the back. Becoming disinterested, Anthony tosses the photo to the floor. He then notices an old cloth-bound book with dried stains on it. The title, Mysterious Discoveries, captures his attention. Anthony notices the name of the author, Brian Taylor. After flipping through a few pages, he decides to keep the old book. That night, as he is lying on his bed, he beg
ins reading Mysterious Discoveries with keen interest. He focuses on a chapter that deals with a possible alien sighting in Northern California.
Initially, he is incredulous. Yet, he continues reading the book. The author mentions two archaeologists, Englishman Edward James Salters and his American colleague, Thomas Oliver Cubins. Anthony now remembers the old photograph that he had tossed away. Anthony becomes fascinated as he is reading about the worldwide exploits of these two men. Thus, his interest in becoming an archaeologist is kindled. Author Brian Taylor indicates that two archaeologists were involved in a joint project regarding the discovery of an alien artifact. This device gives credence to an event that supposedly occurred on 17 September 1860.
The author further indicates that Thomas Cubins and Edward Salters were to deliver the alien artifact to a research agency. Tragically, the passenger train that Salters and Cubins were traveling on had slammed head on into another passenger train coming from the opposite direction. Sixty-three people, James Salters and Thomas Cubins included, perished. Twenty-three other people were seriously injured. Along with the luggage, many of the items belonging to the deceased were collected and stored in a warehouse pending location of next of kin. The teenage Anthony Weiss is fascinated with the alien sighting story and the discovery of alien artifacts. He decides to do further research at the Humboldt County Library.
The Messenger Page 4