He lit yet another Lucky Strike and inhaled deeply, remembering a day in November, much like today, and his brother Edward. That day he had grown up by about three years. He must have been in second grade and his older sisters and brothers weren’t home yet. He had been happy that day because the teacher had to leave early, so all the kids in his class had gotten to leave early too. The fresh fall air had carried a scent of apple cider from the farm next door, a sweet scent that made Orville’s always empty stomach growl. He had begun to walk a little faster, hoping there would be an apple left in the kitchen for him to eat. From several yards away, he had heard a rapping noise inside the two bedroom frame house. Had that ornery Billy goat gotten out again? he wondered. It had happened before and his daddy had whipped him good for not making sure the goat gate was secure. As he walked faster down the dirt road he had realized the screen door to the house was halfway open. He ran faster hoping the goat wasn’t in the house, or worse, hadn’t eaten the apple he could almost taste. As he opened the door, he half expected to find the Billy goat charging and tearing up what few pieces of furniture they had, but it was worse. His little brother Edward was having a seizure. Orville went white as he watched his little brother’s body bouncing up and down on the floor as if manipulated by a mad puppeteer. Orville didn’t know what to do. He cried out for his mamma and daddy for what seemed like hours while trying to hold Edward down. He could feel the tears running down his face as thoughts raced through his mind. Was Edward dying? Would he catch this horrible disease that Eva said caused you to slobber and foam at the mouth like the rabid dog his daddy had shot last week?
Time passed by slowly as Edward’s frail body quaked on the floor. His small legs contracted and relaxed, contracted and relaxed, while his arms did the same. Edward’s elbows and heels bled from the uncontrollable spasms his little body had been making, as he lay on the floor. He had urinated in his pants and Orville felt worse about this than the blood he saw on his younger brother’s body. He had kept patting his back and crying ‘Edward’ as he watched his little brother’s head banging on the hard wooden floor. I can’t help him, I can’t save him, I’m useless! Orville thought to himself.
“Mamma! Daddy!” Orville screamed. Finally they had both come running into the small house.
“Orville,” his daddy’s voice had boomed into the small space, “get away from him now, your mamma will take care of him.”
“But Daddy, I think he’s dying,” Orville had screamed.
His mamma had pushed him away and cradled Edward in her arms. His small body went limp. The seizure was finally over. Orville’s tears ran freely now. His brother must be dead.
Seeing his next to youngest son cry, his father admonished him, “Don’t you ever cry, boy, don’t you ever. Nix men don’t cry and they don’t look back. You did the best you could and you hold your head high. He’s not dead, boy, he’s just had a seizure. You were there for him which is all family can do for one another. You were there.” He hugged his son hard then let him go. That’s the only time Orville ever remembered his father hugging him. “Besides, all this excitement has caused a distraction for you. Have you done your chores? Your homework? Hug your brother and thank him for making your life easier today.”
He hadn’t thought of Edward’s epileptic seizure as a distraction. He also hadn’t thought Edward had made his life easier by purposefully having a seizure. His daddy seemed to misunderstand. Some things in life happened on purpose. Other things in life happened by someone else’s purpose. His only thought had been how to keep his brother from dying.
From that day on, someone had to stay with Edward at all times. This job had usually fallen to his mamma or his older sisters Grace or Eva. Grace was the best at it. She probably could have been a doctor if women could have gone to college, because she was too smart for a girl and truly cared about Edward. Orville had a close relationship with Grace. It had always seemed to him that though Eva was prettier, Grace was the best sister. She showed him how she had begun to keep notes about Edward’s behavior, trying to come up with anything that could clue her in as to when he was going to have a seizure. The seizures scared Grace too. She had told Orville that one time, but not because she was scared she’d catch it, but because she couldn’t make them stop. Orville watched Grace, who was five years older than he was, care for Edward like her own son…not a brother. She did that until Edward died at the age of twenty-eight; twenty-five years after their mamma had died from pneumonia.
*****
HIS DADDY SEEMED TO
MISUNDERSTAND. SOME
THINGS IN LIFE HAPPENED
ON PURPOSE. OTHER
THINGS IN LIFE HAPPENED
BY SOMEONE ELSE’S
PURPOSE. HIS ONLY
THOUGHT HAD BEEN HOW
TO KEEP HIS BROTHER
FROM DYING.
His sister Eva wasn’t like Grace. She hated watching Edward as she too thought she would get epilepsy and if that happened, she would never have a boyfriend.
“Who would want to kiss a woman who foamed at the mouth?” she would ask their mamma. Eva wasn’t like her brothers and sister. She hated her life and was very loud about it. Mamma wouldn’t let daddy spank her because she was a girl, but Orville could tell their daddy wanted to, and often. Eva had no desire to stay with Edward longer than five minutes at a time and she had soon made a pact with Grace. Eva would do the washing, cleaning and cooking if Grace would handle Edward. It was a pact that worked until the day Eva ran off with the older man two farms over. Orville didn’t hear from or see her again until many years later.
Orville and his two older brothers were expected to do Edward’s work as well as their own because the medical bills and Edward’s medicine costs often times meant there wasn’t enough food in the house for the family of eight. He learned to butcher hogs and chicken by the time he was eight and though he dreamed of candy and toys and real presents at Christmas, fate had another plan. For the first four years of school, he didn’t think he could ever be more tired. School was hard for him because there wasn’t much time to study with all the chores he had to do before and after the long walk to the schoolhouse. But then when his sister Eva had run away, his daddy made him quit school to help with the farm and with Edward because Grace was about to graduate, and since she wasn’t very pretty, his daddy said, she needed to put her brains to good use.
The ash of the cigarette he was barely smoking dropped onto his lap and he cursed hoping it hadn’t ruined his suit. He stopped thinking about his youth and checked his watch. It was 6:18. Where the heck was Ella?
He looked toward the cafeteria and noticed someone had left a newspaper near the door. He got out and went to get it. Darn, it’s a Dallas Morning News, he thought to himself. He was hoping it would have been a Times Herald.15 He didn’t trust the Dallas Morning News as he had heard his Secret Service friends at work talking about big parties the owners of the paper, the Dealeys, gave all the time, and how if you were invited to a Dealey party, you would be getting a promotion soon.
As an air conditioning repairman, he wasn’t invited to parties, but his friends in the Secret Service, like Forrest, often talked about them in the lunchroom.
He always felt uncomfortable when those kinds of discussions started, but he didn’t let on. He just didn’t like the idea of government employees mixing with big businesses. Everyone and everything had their places, and that’s where they should stay.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Ella coming out, her face weary and tired, but her eyes excited. He loved that about her. He jumped out of the car and put the half-read newspaper over her head to protect her from the rain.
“Orville, did you call Jr. and remind him to tell Elaine to meet me at the bus stop in the morning to go to the parade?” she asked breathlessly.
“No Ella, I just left Riverlakes, I haven’t been home yet. You can call her when we get home.” Ella rolled her eyes and smirked at him. “At Riverlakes… so I guess you’ll need
…”
“No,” he interrupted before she could complete her sentence, “I don’t need any money from you. I won today. I’ll pay for the bus and lunch at Walgreens for us all.” He beamed with pride as she looped her arm through his.
Finances were always a bone of contention for the couple, though since their son Orville Jr. had left and married Elaine Walker, it had gotten better. Orville found he had more money to buy fedoras, suits, and play more games of poker and golf. Sometimes, okay, more times than he liked, he lost and had to beg Ella for money. He hated those times. It seemed as if he would have to work hard his entire life. He never seemed to get a break. At least not until he married Ella.
The tall, beautiful Ella had lived a hard life as well. She had to care for her brothers after her parents died. Though she and the boys had moved in with her grandparents, she felt responsible for the brothers’ care until she caught her uncle stealing her hard earned money. Her uncle had always thought himself a Clyde Barrow-type and had even had him over for dinner one afternoon at their home in Scurry, Texas. Ella knew at an early age that money was the ticket to freedom, though not by the Bonnie and Clyde way. Luckily, she had met Orville soon after she caught her good-for-nothing uncle. After a whirlwind romance, they fell in love and married quickly. Orville was more a way out of her horrible home life to her than he was a soul mate. But she loved him in her way and he loved her in his… their son Orville Jr. was proof of it.
Now that their son had children, Ella was in her element as Granny. She adored her three grandchildren and spent whatever was leftover from her meager earnings buying them clothes and taking them places. Tomorrow she was taking the grandchildren and her daughter-in-law Elaine to see John F. Kennedy at the presidential parade in downtown Dallas. She had never seen a president in person, and while she was alive, she intended to ensure her grandchildren had many of the things she never had. They would ride the bus to keep from having to pay parking fees and meet Orville at the ten-cent store on Main. The ten-cent store had a soda fountain and the kids would love a sweet treat. The best part of it, though, would be that Gayle could play Elvis Presley records on the booth jukeboxes. She knew how much her little granddaughter loved playing music.
* * * * *
Across town, Abraham Zapruder was closing up late. The luxurious surroundings of his executive office never ceased to make him smile. His life in Texas was a far cry from the one he grew up with in the Ukraine.16 As he looked out the window of his offices he thought how proud he was to be an American and how many opportunities this country afforded its citizens. He wished there was a way he could thank the government of his beloved country. He had become a Mason; he voted religiously; he donated money to worthy causes. He still didn’t feel those things were enough to show his love for America. He knew that the 35th president would be in Dallas tomorrow and he thought about watching it out his window. He had excitedly voted for John F. Kennedy and firmly believed his presidency would change the nation. As he gazed out and glanced at the Texas School Book Depository across the street, he wondered if his friend D. Harold Byrd17 would like to join him at the parade and he grabbed the phone to call him, but then remembered he was on safari. D. Harold owned the School Book Depository. When he bought it, Abraham was sure he would clean it up and maybe even renovate it. It was a bit of an eyesore and Byrd seemed to allow every bum, race, and jailbird to work there. No renovations had happened yet, save a floor remodeling because, he supposed, D. Harold was busy with his East Texas Oil project. He was jealous that he couldn’t expand his own office. He wanted a bigger space in which to impress buyers from large companies and he hoped this would be a good selling season for both his clothing lines: Chalet and Jennifer Juniors. Few people knew that he had named his company Jennifer Juniors after the lovely actress Jennifer Jones.18
“Well,” he thought, “I can watch it from here myself,” as he turned back to his ornate desk.
He changed his mind when he saw all the orders he had to fill for his company. The lovely First Lady had done wonders for his business this year. It was as if every woman in Texas wanted to look and dress like Jackie. He smiled as he thought of the young couple and how their progressive lifestyle was the total opposite of the leaders in his home country of Ukraine. He again thought how lucky he was to now be an American and decided he would definitely take time out to watch the parade. He wasn’t sure which way the presidential motorcade would proceed, but he had heard rumors from his friends, the de Mohrenschildts,19 or was it Neil Mallon, that it might cross right in front of his building at 501 Elm Street. He checked his appointment book for the next day and then had his secretary, Lillian Rogers, check it again. Lillian, as well as all the girls in the office, was excited about seeing the elegant First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.20 All they could talk about were her clothes and her handsome husband. Listening to them chatter Abraham wondered if men really understood how much power women had in the world of finance. His father had told him years ago that where the heart’s desire lies, there the money will go. Women who wanted to look like Jackie, be married to a dazzling young man like the President, or live an elegant lifestyle like the couple would spend the money to make their dreams come true…and women usually controlled the household budgets, no matter what the I Love Lucy Show portrayed. Zapruder knew; he was a dress manufacturer and had a wife of his own. Women were the silent power of the Sixties.
“I’ll bet she’ll be wearing a beige Chanel,” he heard one of his models say.
“No, Cassini is her standby fashion and green is this year’s color. She’ll be wearing a bold green Cassini,” his receptionist Marilyn Sitzman said.
One of the young girls with dreams of having her own clothing line interrupted, “I think she’ll be wearing a bright yellow Dior. You know how she loves Dior. She’ll have a smart clutch, low pumps and a smart Dior sundress, a bright print with yellow as the key color.”
Abraham closed his office door to silence the ‘what will Jackie be wearing?’ chatter, though the thought of the First Lady’s colorful wardrobe gave him a few ideas for his summer line. Yes, bright colors might be the way to go. He wondered what his friend Jeanne de Morhenschildt would be previewing. Maybe he should call her. Jeanne had been his first boss, but at that time her last name had been LeGon.21 Abraham had cut dress patterns for her at a clothier called Nardis until she married the debonair George de Morhenschildt in 1959. There were rumors that Jeanne’s husband had dated the First Lady years ago. But actually, de Morhenschildt had dated Jackie’s aunt. God, I’m beginning to sound like one of my employees, he thought to himself. Everyone has Jackie on their mind! He straightened his desk as his mind went back to his clothing line. No, he wouldn’t ask Jeanne, he would ask his wife when he got home. She’s the one who had convinced him to buy the Jackie mannequin22 that was such a hit with his buyers. His wife had always been his good luck charm, and he had a feeling this was going to be a lucky weekend.
* * * * *
As Abraham Zapruder was leaving his office, Forrest Sorrels and Winston Lawson were meeting the President’s advance team at Love Field Airport.23 An airplane had been sent ahead to transport Secret Service cars for the presidential motorcade. Once Forrest and Win got there, they met with Agents Samuel Kinney and George Hickey. Forrest had arranged for officers from the Dallas Police Department to provide security for the cars overnight in the garage beneath the Main Terminal.
“Great to meet you,” Forrest said as he shook hands with both Kinney and Hickey. With the best Texas accent Win could muster, he also greeted the men with, “Howdy ya’ll, welcome to Texas.”
Of course his accent had a northern tinge because he wasn’t from Texas, though after being there over two weeks, he felt he was beginning to develop a Texas twang. They all laughed as they got into the car and drove to the Sheraton Hotel.24 The Sheraton was the hotel chosen for the president’s advance and support team to stay.
Several hours later, at approximately 11:00 pm, Air Force One
, the President’s official airplane, was landing at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth. Thousands of smiling Fort Worth residents weathered the cold rain to get a glimpse of the President and his fashionable wife on the nine mile route from West Fort Worth to the Hotel Texas25 at the center of downtown. Fort Worth had worked hard to welcome the couple with the best the city could offer in order to make the glamorous couple’s stay a memorable one. The citizens were excited to see the president as the future of their city was intertwined with politics, aviation, the military, and the black gold that supported it all: oil. The oilmen of LBJ’s Texas were distinctly different from the oilmen of Rockefeller’s New York. The difference was in taxes. Texas oil not only meant large sums of money, it also meant large government tax breaks. Texans paid no state taxes, only federal taxes to Washington and oil people wanted it to stay that way. They also wanted to keep their oil tax break. They knew their ‘Big Steel’ compatriots had taken quite a hit in profits when President Kennedy forced them to rescind price hikes, and they weren’t about to see that happen to Big Oil.
The Missing JFK Assassination Film Page 3