CHAPTER
SEVEN
A TIME TO FABRICATE AND DESTROY
“I do not want it said - I do not want it said of our generation of Americans what T. S. Eliot said in his poem, ‘The Rock,’ of another group of people: ‘And the wind shall say these were a decent people, their only monument the asphalt road and a thousand lost golf balls’. We can do better than that.”
John F. Kennedy79
Orville Nix and family left Walgreens and silently drove home. Gayle was napping in the backseat of Orville’s 1957 red and white Plymouth Fury80 on her mother’s lap. Ella rode in the front with her shaken husband.
“What did you see Orville? Did you see him get shot?” she asked him.
“I saw the nightmares I’ve been having come to life Ella. Come to life! At one moment I was taking a film of him smiling to his wife and the next moment I saw him shot.” Ella saw his eyes filling with tears.
“Did you get his…well…did you get…?”
“Are you asking if I got the president’s death on film? I don’t know Ella, I just don’t know. People were screaming and crying and I was scared. All I could think about was whether or not you and Elaine and Gayle were okay and then when I saw people covering their children and racing all around the Plaza, I just… I just… I just don’t know if I took anything or not,” he said despondently.
Ella reached across the red vinyl car seat and patted her husband’s shoulder. She couldn’t think of a time she had ever seen him this way.
As they reached their home on the corner of Denley Drive and Elmore St., Orville helped Ella, then Elaine out of the car. Gayle was still sleeping, and he carried her to Elaine’s car. He gently opened the car door and placed his granddaughter inside. He looked at his young daughter-in-law and thought of the First Lady again. How terrible to be so young and lose the father of your children. He hugged Elaine and told her to have his son call him when he got home from work.
“I will Paw-Paw, try to get some sleep, it’s been a hard day for you,” Elaine replied. She pushed the reverse button and backed the small white Valiant out of the driveway and headed home to 1203 Savoy near Kiest Park in Oak Cliff.81
Ella was sitting at the table with her head in her hands as Orville entered the small home. She had already turned the black and white television on and the news on every channel was all about the death of John F. Kennedy.
“What is the television saying?” Orville asked his wife.
“They’re saying that the president was shot and died at Parkland Hospital,” Ella replied.
Orville had taken out his Keystone camera and was checking the footage indicator window. The number was now at twenty-three. That morning, he had loaded his new roll of Kodacolor Type A film through the aperture and pressure plates and replaced the camera cover. Then following the instruction booklet, he ran the film through it until the number twenty-five appeared in the center of the footage indicator. This meant he had twenty-five feet of film to use. That it now measured only twenty-three meant that he probably didn’t film the president being shot.82 I must have been filming the ground while I was clinching the camera grip, he thought to himself. The memory of everything he saw was still so vivid in his mind. The shots–at least four, maybe even five. The people-running to the stockade fence, the Texas School Book Depository, the Triple Overpass. The president–his head exploding into glittery pieces before Orville’s eyes. He decided to go use more of the film the next morning to try to recreate his ineffable memories.
As he looked up at the television again, there was a man being interviewed by WFAA. He recognized the balding man wearing the bowtie, though he didn’t know where he had seen him. He got up from his vinyl recliner and turned up the volume. 83
WATSON: A gentleman just walked in our studio that I am meeting for the first time, as well as you-this is WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas. May I have your name please, sir?
ZAPRUDER: My name is Abraham Zapruder.
WATSON: Mr. Zapruda?
ZAPRUDER: Zapruder, yes sir.
WATSON: Zapruda. And would you tell us your story please, sir?
ZAPRUDER: I got out in, uh, about a half-hour earlier to get a good spot to shoot some pictures. And I found a spot, one of these concrete blocks they have down near that park, near the underpass. And I got on top there, there was another girl from my office, she was right behind me. And as I was shooting, as the president was coming down from Houston Street making his turn, it was about a half-way down there, I heard a shot, and he slumped to the side, like this. Then I heard another shot or two, I couldn’t say it was one or two, and I saw his head practically open up, all blood and everything, and I kept on shooting. That’s about all, I’m just sick, I can’t…
WATSON: I think that pretty well expresses the entire feelings of the whole world.
ZAPRUDER: Terrible, terrible.
WATSON: You have the film in your camera, we’ll try to get…
ZAPRUDER: Yes, I brought it to the studio, now.
WATSON: We’ll try to get that processed and have it as soon as possible.
WFAA then shows a video tape of the hearse with Kennedy’s body leaving the Parkland Hospital driveway. Watson next shows a photograph of the Texas School Book Depository and points to the sixth floor window.
WATSON: There is a picture of the window where the gun was allegedly fired from that killed President Kennedy-
ZAPRUDER: I must have been in the line of fire.
WATSON: … today. Excuse me, go ahead sir.
ZAPRUDER: I say I must have been in the line of fire where I seen that picture where it was. I was right on that, uh, concrete block, as I said. And as I explained before, is a sickening scene. At first I thought perhaps it’s a, uh, it sounded like, uh, somebody make a joke, you hear a, a shot and somebody grabs their stomach.”84
Orville watched the Zapruder interview stunned at the immediate fraternity he felt with this man. He looked down at the camera he still had in his hand and for a split-second thought of taking it to the television station. Even if he had taken a film, it would only be second best after this Zapruder fella had shown his. He then thought of what the newsman said, about the alleged gunmen at the Texas School Book Depository.
“Ella,” Orville called, “Ella, I don’t think the shots came from the Texas School Book Depository. I don’t remember looking that way. That’s the building with the big Hertz clock on it.”85
Ella walked into the small beige living room and sat on the brown herringbone print couch she had bought from Montgomery Wards.
“Well, where do you think they came from?” she asked her husband.
“I remember looking towards that part of the park that doesn’t match the rest, the part that has a fence. Do you know where I mean?” he replied. Ella nodded her head in agreement. “And I remember thinking that’s where the shots were coming from. There’s some trees up there, and during that time of day it’s shadowy but there was so much going on…so many people screaming and running and…” his voice faltered as he put his head into his hands and began to cry again. Ella had been married to Orville for over twenty-five years and had seen him cry twice: when Edward died and when his son was born. In the course of twenty-four hours she had now seen him cry two more times. She was worried for him.
Ella jumped up from the couch and hurried over to console her husband. She ran her palm in a circular motion on his back. In the background, the television was now reporting on the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald. They were calling him a Russian defector and pro-Cuban protester.
“Oh Ella, I was so worried that something may have happened to you or Elaine or Gayle. I should have run up to the park area to see if someone was behind that fence. I feel so helpless. I feel like I could have done more. Why did this have to happen in our city?” he said tearfully.
The ringing of the telephone broke the solemn moment. Orville jumped up to answer it as he always did. He hated it to ring more than twice without it being answered.
/> “Hello,” Orville answered as he picked up the black telephone. “Dad, are you okay?” It was his son Orville, Jr. on the line. “Elaine says you were pretty shook up about what you saw today. Can you believe it? Those idiot Democrats, I’ll lay a dollar to a donut that they killed each other off. That, or Bobby made the Mafia pretty mad. Think it could’ve been a Mafia hit?” Orville hadn’t even thought of someone else killing Kennedy, he just knew that Oswald wasn’t behind the stockade fence.
“Well Jr., the TV says it’s some scrawny little Communist guy named Lee Harvey Oswald. They say he killed a policeman too.”
“Yeah, we were watching that too. You know what? He lived in that boarding house that Elaine’s Uncle Eual’s patient, Gladys Johnson owned in Oak Cliff at 1026 Beckley St.86 Doctor Eual Dipprey, the Chiropractor. His office is on Zangs St., not too far from there. Small world isn’t it? Eual called us just a few minutes ago and also told us that Gary, his son, was in the same class with Allan, the son of the officer they say Lee Harvey Oswald killed, J.D. Tippit.87 And did you hear Oswald screaming, ‘I’m just a patsy?’ Think he was set up? I told Gary and Eual that you may have taken a movie of the assassination but you didn’t know. Eual wants a copy if you did. Do you think you did, Dad?” Orville Jr. peppered his dad with questions.
“No son, I don’t think I did. The film indicator shows I didn’t take much of anything, probably just the ground while I was running. I’m going back down there in the morning and try to retrace my steps. Want to go with me?”
“I can’t Dad, I’m off tomorrow and I promised the kids it would be junk food breakfast Saturday so Elaine can get some sleep.”
“Junk food breakfast? What the heck is that?” Orville asked his son.
“You won’t approve of it Dad, but I take them to the 7-Eleven and let them get cupcakes, candy, and cokes for breakfast. It’s just a treat I do for them every now and then,” Orville told his dad sheepishly.
“If Elaine needs some sleep, why don’t you just bring the kids here? You know how much your mom loves to have them over for the weekend,” Orville admonished his son.
“Mom needs her rest too, Dad. She works hard like you. Besides, Elaine and I don’t want to take advantage. The kids are with you and Mom all the time.”
“We love having them here, son. I was happy to see Gayle today. I was missing Cindy and David, but after what happened, I’m glad they weren’t with us at the parade. I think of little John-John and Caroline. I’m still upset about it all. What do you think is going to happen to the country? Do you think we’ll be invaded by Russia or Cuba?” he asked his son. Orville knew his son knew much more about political events than he did. Orville hardly ever read the paper.
“Nawww, I don’t think so Dad. I think there may be more to this though. They caught Oswald awfully fast. When have you ever known the Dallas Police Department to work that fast? And you know what else? If anything, I would think they would have had Oswald in the “Decker Hold” by now.88 Wonder why he isn’t? The people who didn’t like Kennedy are really not going to like having that snake LBJ as president. It embarrasses me that he’s from Texas. Welp, he’s the president now though and didn’t even have to get Billie Sol Estes to buy him votes to get there. And yes, I’m sure there will be a war of some kind, but not with the Russians or Cuba. LBJ will make sure the military production stays in Texas. I tell you, Dad, you need to vote for Barry Goldwater in ‘64.” 89
“I’ve never been a Republican, and I’m not a ‘changing now. I gotta go, son, talk to you later.” With that, he hung up the phone. As he did, he noticed a shadowy figure outside near the front porch. It was late afternoon and the sun was going down. He walked to the front door and opened it. The figure he had seen a moment ago was no longer there. As he stepped out the screen door, the smell from the Fleming and Sons Paper Company made his nostrils flare in protest. He took a few steps out and looked all around the porch and yard. He noticed the chrysanthemums were starting to bloom yellow and gold in the deep blue planters Ella had bought during their summer trip to New Mexico. One of them looked like it had been moved; a stem was broken. Had someone been there?
CHAPTER
EIGHT
OF CAPITALISM AND SECRECY: THE AMERICAN WAY
“The very word ‘secrecy’ is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths, and to secret proceedings.”
John F. Kennedy90
Orville endured a sleepless night replaying what he saw on November 22, 1963 over and over. People, shots, blood. People, shots, blood. Like a bad opera, the scenes in his head were horrific and accompanied by a musical score of high sopranos shrieking instead of screaming… screaming instead of singing.
Before bed, Orville and Ella had spent the evening in front of the television watching all the different stations and listening to the story of Lee Harvey Oswald come to light. This scrawny assassin wasn’t any older than his own son, Orville Jr., and he too was a family man with two small daughters and a wife. Why would a man kill the president, then a police officer and then go see a movie at the Texas Theater? Why didn’t he get as far as he could out of the city? Why didn’t he run? Why was he acting so calm at the Dallas Police Station? Orville supposed he didn’t think like a criminal which is why he couldn’t understand the whole Oswald scenario. The thought made him feel better. He remembered the phone call with his son the day before, and for a split second wondered if Oswald worked for the new president LBJ or whoever had bought the ‘Welcome Mr. Kennedy’ advertisement in the Dallas Morning News yesterday. What the heck was the John Birch Society anyway? It sounded like some bird watching group to him.91 As if reading his thoughts, he heard the paperboy’s delivery thump of the day’s newspaper at the front screen door. He looked at the clock next to his bed; it was 4:45 A.M.
He got up quietly so as not to wake Ella and made some coffee. As the coffee percolated, he opened the door to get the paper. He never locked the door as he couldn’t remember a time when there had been any crime in his neighborhood, save for kids playing pranks at Halloween.
Then he remembered the strange figure he had seen yesterday. Aw, it had to be the excitement of the day. Why would anyone be looking into our window? We’re not rich, and this is a rented house. He pushed any thought of larceny out of his mind and sat down at the small, aluminum dining table to read the day’s paper. Orville had a hard time reading, and many times he became frustrated with the words reporters used. He had no problems today though and, as he unfolded the paper, the headlines screamed, “KENNEDY SLAIN ON DALLAS STREET.”92 There beneath the headlines were pictures of LBJ and President Kennedy. President Kennedy’s picture was larger than LBJ’s picture, something Orville reckoned the new president wouldn’t like too much. All Texans knew Lyndon Baines Johnson liked being in the spotlight. In between the pictures was the article Orville read that morning. It was entitled, “Pro-Communist Charged with Act.” Well, that puts an end to my thoughts about LBJ hiring him. Oswald was just a Communist mad at the president, Orville thought as he read along.
Orville took a sip of coffee, heavy on cream and sugar and lit a Lucky Strike. He read that the Communist Oswald had used a Mauser 7.65 mm rifle.93 “Well, he was either a really good shot or it was a lucky strike. How would he have gotten four or five rounds off in that short of time?” he wondered out loud.
“Lucky Strike?” said Ella yawningly as she shuffled into the kitchen. “Can you not find your cigarettes?” she asked as she kissed Orville’s forehead.
“No, my cigarettes are right here. Did I wake you Ella? I’m so sorry. I was just reading the paper out loud. It says here that this commie pinko Oswald shot the president with a Mauser rifle. The boy must have been a really good marksman because Ella, I heard at least four or five shots down there at Dealey Park, maybe more.”
“I’m sure we’ll hear more about it today. He’s in jail now, so the police will find out. And they’re so spi
ttin’ mad about him killing one of their own, I’d be surprised if they didn’t get a confession quick,” she said.
Orville drank the last of his coffee and passed the paper to his wife.
“I’m going to go back down there this morning and try to remember what I saw. I’m going to take my camera,” Orville said.
“Well dress warm, Orville, its cold this morning. Do you want me to make you some breakfast?”
“No, when I get back, we’ll go out to eat. How does that sound?” he winked at her and left to get dressed.
Ella smiled as she read the paper then said, “No, Orville, wait for me, I didn’t get to see where you were yesterday, I’m going with you. I want to see what you saw.”
Thirty minutes later they were in the red Plymouth on their way back to downtown Dallas. As they neared Dealey Plaza the whole of it seemed as faded as wilted roses.
Orville parked behind the Terminal Annex building like he had the day before. The air was thick with low lying clouds and as he and Ella walked, their breaths intermingled with the fog. It was as if the clouds were trying to cover the horror that had occurred in this exact place less than twenty-four hours earlier. But instead of cleaning the air filthy with murder and secrecy, the clouds seemed to enrobe them into invisibility. Metaphorically, the clouds would linger for years.
Orville and Ella walked to the corner of Main and Houston where Orville had waited for the motorcade and his family. He pointed to the place where the epileptic man had had a seizure, then mysteriously vanished.
Many years later, researchers found this man to be a part-time employee in the Dallas Morning News mailroom. He was taken to Parkland Hospital, but there is no record of his discharge as he walked out without being questioned. Why? Many believe that because President Kennedy was brought into the hospital several minutes later, no one was paying attention to him. Is this story one more coincidence of many that day or was he in Dealey Plaza for a diversion?
The Missing JFK Assassination Film Page 8