ESCAPE FROM EL MONTE by Benita Bishop

                                                           Introduction

  In the State of California, nestled between the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo River is a City called ‘El Monte’ a seven mile stretch of fertile land just twelve miles east of Los Angeles.

  Today, El Monte is a very multi-cultural community flavored with immigrants from many countries including Central and South America, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and Indochina.

  Demographics from the year 2000 show The Asian population at 18 percent, the Hispanic population dominating at 75 percent, and about a 7 percent Caucasian residency.

  In the 1930’s, El Monte was a much smaller population with the Caucasian community at 75 percent, Japanese farmers at about 5 percent. Mexican immigrant workers were about 20 percent, who lived in immigrant camps, one being called ‘Hicks Camp’ and another named ‘Las Flores’. Education was segregated with Mexican and Japanese students attending different schools than the Caucasians or ‘Anglo’ students.

  The Long Beach Earthquake of 1933 damaged the high school and a new school had to be built. In 1939 the new location opened and is still the current site of ‘El Monte High School’

  The population in El Monte in 1940 was estimated at about 10,000.In the early 1950’s there was a population explosion in El Monte and in this era many tract homes were being built to accommodate the rush of  settlers from all across the United States, and also those families from Los Angeles who has prospered enough to buy a new ‘Home’ in the suburbs of LA.

  It was in 1955 that Lee Morgan moved his family from an older rented house in Monterey Park, to a brand new tract home in ‘Park El Monte’ on the cozy little street called Friendswood Avenue. His wife Josefina Gonzales-Morgan was from Mexico, and Lee  growing up in spacious Burlington Colorado, seemed happy to be settling into this new ‘safe’ town with schools and parks close by, the Market and shopping just a short drive down Merced Ave., and his own neighborhood with the friendliest neighbors you could ask for.

  In 1970 the population of El Monte was 70,975. Hispanics accounted for about 72 percent. Most of the Hispanics were of Mexican origin.

                                              Oldies Music

  There used to be a Dance Hall in El Monte called the American Legion Stadium. They had big name bands and acts there including boxing matches. The building was condemned and torn down around 1970. As a child I would hear the young adults in my neighborhood talk about how great of a place it once had been, and names of oldies but goodies songs were mentioned often, like, ‘Earth Angel’, ‘Duke of Earl’  ‘Sad Girl’  ‘Sitting in the Park’, ‘Oh Donna’ and ‘My Girl’.

  That must be why I had this fascination for oldies music and I would spend countless hours locked in my bedroom listening to KRLA oldies and recording them onto my small cheap tape recorder so that I could memorize them and sing them along with the older people when they had their 45’s playing on their record players.  

  It was easy to make enemies, all you had to do was say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing at the wrong time and a half dozen ‘cholas’ (or chola wannabees) were going to jump you in the park on the way home from school. I was the kind of person that liked to joke around, but I learned to stay silent and try to mind my own business. The funny thing was, the Chicanas were constantly fighting with each other, if you were a ‘white’ girl, chances were you got picked up by your parent in a car after school and avoided the whole thing.

Some of the Chicanas or Hispanic girls walked home from school, hung out at the parks, wandered the neighborhoods in small groups, etc.

  I say ‘some’ because of coarse there were also some who were very involved in the after school sports, good students who didn’t care to fight with anyone. There were also the usual prejudices among teens typical of the scenario all across this country. Some who were picked on, harassed, ignored, and ridiculed because they were supposedly unattractive, had different characteristics that drew attention to them and made them objects of negative attention .

   Junior High School was the worst time for most new teenagers trying to find an identity and a clique to belong to. However, High School didn’t get much better.

                            

      July 30, 2003 A note from the author.

     I am Benita Morgan. I grew up in El Monte being half white and brown, half happy - half sad, half in trouble half the time, and half searching but always curious as to what lay ahead in  life.

    At a young age I knew I had the talent it takes to sing and perform, but the challenge to follow other interests usually ended up in failure and disappointment. Some friends and even my sisters made fun of me as a skinny, knobby kneed, frizzy haired, buck toothed kid that I was.

     In Junior High, I was on a few sports teams, Volleyball and Baseball, but I was not a star athlete and spent more time on the side bench than actually playing. In High School I tried out for Cheerleading, something I dreamed about since I was little, but I t was not to be. I was on the Tennis team but only won half my games. I made it to ‘Concert Choir’ accepted by some of theteen girls, but not all. I tried out for the ‘Lion’ School Mascot but didn’t get picked, although I made 1^st runner up..

   I felt that I had no one to talk to so most of the pain of my youth was poured out with pencil and ink pen in the pages of my diary.

   The secret diary lay packed away and hidden for over 20 years. The resurrection of memories would be put off year after year until December 2002. 

   That December in 2002, my father of 88 years fell and was severely injured. He was in the hospital for over two weeks and was not getting any better. The Doctors said he would not last long. While he was in the hospital, I became ill with the Flu and could not visit him. The day before Christmas I hoped in my car with my daughter and we were on the freeway  when traffic suddenly stopped, I hit my brakes swerved to the right, lost control and my car rolled over into a ravine, completely totaling my Corolla. By some miracle, we crawled out of the overturned car uninjured. This was a wake up call and realization as to how precious our lives really are and how little time we have on this Earth to achieve our goals and dreams.

   Seven days later my dad passed away in the hospital. I realized that there are things I’d been putting off that really needed to be completed. I was cleaning out my Dads garage when I found a box of my things. High School memorabilia, and my diary was wrapped up in a box with layers of tape sealing it. I sat in the dim of his garage and read it all, there was so much I had forgotten about. I soon had a manuscript typed up to submit to my publisher. That book I called ‘Lost Girl From El Monte’.

   Then I dove into my next  project  writing the sequel with all vigor and determination to have it published the following year.  My dad would have been proud, if only I had done these things ten years ago or more.

   I published my diary ‘Lost Girl From El Monte’ in 2003 and this sequel the following year, I decided to write Escape From El Monte as a Novel.A story based on true events . And so, here it is….

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                   .                                      THE     SEVENTIES

     What in the name of Heaven was the world, or at least some of the world thinking when the Disco Fever hit? For too many people, teens, adults, and Uncle Carlos, it started with the movie, Saturday Night Fever! The rest either fell into it, or, cursed it. Ah but the clothes! Their were bright colored dresses and shirts, platform shoes, wild hair styles, gauchos and glitter on everything. It was too hard to resist.

      Disco was supposed to never die. Disco became evil. Disco became heaven. People wore less and less to dance their best in. The live band parties died and the DJ took over with his flashing light shows, fog, and never stopping music. The baby boomers were raring to go. Then Punk Rock clubs popped up and new local bands became famous.

     Somewhere in El Monte , there was a girl who wanted to do it all. She wanted the glitter and drama of Disco, she wanted to be an actress on stage, she wanted to sing in any way she could find. Like many teens, she wanted to get away from home and do something on her own but she needed to find something else, something more in life than hitting the Discos every week.

     She had spent most of her life in her hometown, El Monte, lost and wandering, dreaming and hoping for a way out. She knew El Monte’s streets, alleys and hangouts, the good and bad areas, and the best places to shop and eat. She was ready to explore beyond the galaxy of home, to far away planets, like Hollywood and Huntington Beach. She was ready to climb every mountain, ford every stream…okay I’ve said enough and I’m sure you get my drift.

     The stories in this book are true; the names have been changed to protect the innocent….where have I heard that before?

           

           

                                                                January 1978             

                                                         The Odyssey Disco

 

     Reaching under the mattress, Benita pulled out her new secret journal. Her other diary was full; the last page ending New Years Eve as if the book itself knew the last day of the year would be the last page available to write in signaling the end of that era. She made sure that the old diary was taped up, wrapped in a box and hidden away like a time capsule, to be found someday in the future to remind her of the painful memories buried in the pages.

  The new book was so perfect, clean and new. It would be ashamed to mess it up with sloppy handwriting, but even as she thought of this, the clean, blank pages tempted her to write on them, inviting her to write something; anything. Right now, she could think of nothing to write about. Last year there had been plenty to write about, mostly heartbreak, pain and failure.

  There  had been good and bad times at El Monte High School. In 1977 Benita had lost friends and made new ones. She had joined all the clubs she could and attended as many school activities as she could.

   There had been new adventures, snow skiing at Snow Valley, surfing at the Bolsa Chica cliffs, Backpacking all the local mountains with the high schools Hiking Club. 

  There had been Mickey Lord. The guy that everyone liked, he could do no wrong. Except to Benita who had tried to save their special relationship that drowned last spring when she found out about his secret other life.

   Mickey Lord had been the center of Benita’s life for too long now. She met him in piano class her sophomore year in the fall of 1975. She fell instantly in love with him and soon realized that several other girls were also in awe of his charm. He was handsome, witty, honest and always eager to help someone in need. She was determined to become friends and try every trick in the book to get his admiration and found her self seething with jealousy whenever he paid attention to another girl.

  Then, at the 50’s dance later that school year, he asked her to dance and they ended up in the corner making out. From them on it was serious business and they became like soul mates, spending so much time together. She was always at his house, they frequented the beach together all summer, surfing and cruising Pacific Coast Highway, listening to the Beach Boys on eight-track tapes. They went hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains and then she started attending his Church with him every Sunday.

  Then suddenly her emotions exploded with despair when the mysterious side of Mickey Lord was revealed. He had slept with her friend Mary, then begged for a reconciliation. It took Benita months to deal with the pain and to top it off his previously hidden temper surfaced and she did all she could to make him happy . Except for having sex.  They were going to do the right Christian thing by waiting until they married. Then the next year he suddenly just broke it off with her. She was completely destroyed emotionally over this revelation. She found out that he had gotten back with another girlfriend from his church camp a few years earlier. The girl that could do no wrong; that simple innocent country girl from Bakersfield.

  Then unfortunately, there were the guys Benita dated to try to forget about him, who in turn let her down in their own little ignorant ways. One was an alcoholic, one was a drug addict, and another was too old and was more in love with his truck than anything else. A few were just plain boring or maybe just too shy and maybe even too religious, but then others were just too lustful for the moment and dumped her after the first date, when she didn’t give them what they wanted.

  This was a new year to start fresh. Hopefully it would be a year to forget about him. Something good was bound to happen this year but her planned reward would be different; or so she thought.

  No boyfriends! They ruin things. Her other friends were important now. They posed no threats. Her friend Dina, who shared her interests in music and modern dance, and her good friends in A’ Cappella Choir The guys in drama class whose passions were in dancing and performing. Those were her best friends who loved to just go out disco dancing every Friday night to the Odyssey Disco Club in Hollywood. There was no other disco like it. Every Friday night was disco night and even though they all discussed the possibility of hitting another disco club, they always ended up at the Odyssey, a club for eighteen and over. The best disco dance music from all over the world could be experienced there, at the Odyssey. This was going to be the year of the Disco. Benita was sure of it. The new diary could wait until tomorrow. “It’s Friday night!”

  Shoving the new journal back under the mattress she put on her panty hose, then ballet slippers to dance in and finally her metallic blue satin disco dress with the draped top that swished just the right way when she danced. Then taking off the hot rollers and running her fingers through her brown hair to fluff up the curls and spraying half a can of Aqua Net hair spray to hold the look, she then proceeded to the bathroom to pile on the makeup, especially the red shimmer lipstick she just bought and the blue glitter eye shadow. Benita was going out to do some serious dancing, not caring to meet anyone special, but just to dance the night away to Donna Summer and Chaka Kahn. Being inside the Discothèque was like being on another planet. Everyone was alien but almost everyone had the same thing on their minds; dancing.

  Driving down Garvey Avenue towards Pablo’s house in the town that was supposed to be labeled ‘Friendly El Monte’, she noticed some things about the city that were slowly changing as the years went by.

  The storefronts were looking very old and run-down, needing paint and other repair. The parking lots were not very well lit and were frequent meeting places for gang type teens, looking for cheap action on a weekend. The Joe’s Burgers restaurant had burned down for the second time and some people rumored that the owners burned it down on purpose to collect the insurance money and build a brand new restaurant in its place.

 Pulling up to her friend Pablo’s house, Benita honked her horn twice, the routine signal, as Pablo came running out dressed in his best jeans, black shirt and dancing shoes. The drive into Hollywood would be a hilarious episode of Pablo’s jokes and celebrity impersonations in which he had such a witty talent, making anyone in his presence laugh until they couldn’t breathe.

  Driving on the interstate freeway they laughed and sang songs as the radio played when there was a sudden flash of colored lights behind them. Realizing it was a patrol car trying to pull her over, Benita panicked and screamed, “Oh No! What do I do?” Pablo looked over at her with eyebrow raised saying, “What do you think your supposed to do when a cop flashes their lights?” mocking the stupid question.

 “Oh yeah ok, there’s no place to pull over here with this big wall so I have to get off the freeway here at the next exit!” This seventeen year old teen had never been pulled over before and never even imagined she ever would be. Only the bad guys got pulled over, or, so she had thought. Pablo just sat there calm but not too happy about being late to the disco.

  “Please take out your license and registration ma’am” the officer very officially stated. “Ma’am, you were going ten miles an hour over the speed limit in the slow lane...”

  The disco was packed and people were waiting in line outside to get in. Benita was standing in line right behind a huge man, appearing to weight at least four hundred pounds. He was telling the people in front of him that his Doctor wanted him to get some exercise and lose weight. When they got to the door they asked Benita for some identification. They had not asked her for it the last few times she went there and not being eighteen yet she could only plead with the doorman that she was old enough but lost her I.D.

  This particular night they were not fooled and told her to leave. Walking disappointedly back to the parking lot with Pablo, two young men who were sitting on the brick wall by the door and sidewalk and had seen that Benita and Pablo were turned down at the door. In a contemptible state of mind the two boys started verbally taunting them as they walked away. “Hey! You Mexicans! They’re not going to let you in to that Disco! They only let Americans like us in! You all go back to Mexico where you came from...”

  Louder and louder they chided and laughed until the bouncer came out and told them to be quiet or leave. Unfortunately they decided to leave and were following the two towards the back parking lot. Benita took off at a dead run for her car with her friend thinking the same and they hopped in the car and sped off before the troublemakers could catch up.

  “I want you to drive around the block and drop me off in front of the Odyssey!” Pablo explained. Benita was shocked, “What am I supposed to do, wait in the car all night?” Pablo just looked at her incredulously saying, “I have to get in there and find the bouncer I know, and he will come out and let you in.” Benita was feeling skeptical and suggested carefully, “Why don’t we just go somewhere else?”

“No! I am meeting people here tonight and I have to get in! You wait about thirty minutes then come back to the door and we’ll let you in.” Benita, still shaken by the two taunting boys and the speeding ticket, reluctantly agreed to the plan and dropped him off at the entrance, driving around the block several times. She decided to go to the market down the street for a soda. Pulling into the parking lot she saw the same two young troublemakers standing at the entrance to the store and hurriedly made a u-turn and exit from the lot before being seen by them again.

  Half an hour later she was waiting outside the disco for the friend bouncer to let her in. It seemed like more than thirty minutes and no help came. She knew she couldn’t just drive home and leave Pablo in there. She was sitting on the block wall an hour later when she noticed a different bouncer at the door and decided to try something new.

 She spotted a friendly looking young man that had left the club with a hand stamp to go to his car for cigarettes and was then returning. Benita asked him if she could use his hand stamp to get in. He didn’t understand exactly what she was asking until she licked her hand took his hand that had a big ‘O’ in blue ink and pressed it to her hand. He then smiled and declared, “I’ll have to remember that trick when I bring my friends here next week!”

  Skipping up to the door Benita proclaimed, “I’m back again!” and showed her ‘O’ stamp to the new bouncer who let her in; no question asked. Pablo was nowhere to be seen. The really big man was out on the dance floor and she smiled and waved to him like she knew him even though she didn’t. He waved back with a questioning smile. There was a man dancing that had a t-shirt on with the words ‘The End’ printed on it in bold letters. On the other side of the dance floor someone who looked just like Elton John was sitting in the corner with huge glasses on watching the dancing. Benita figured she should make the best of the evening and asked someone to dance. At midnight the DJ announced a special guest artist who had a Disco hit on the way to the top! “Gentlemen! May I announce recording artist Chaka Khans little Sister, and up and coming recording artist, Taka Boom!” The beautiful singer jumped onto a platform and began singing. Her song captivated everyone’s attention and even Benita had to just stand there watching, comparing her dynamic stage presence to that of her sister who was very well known for her excitement. By the second chorus everyone woke from their stupor as if startled and jumped onto the dance floor to spin and dance as she continued to sing, “Hey Mr. DJ keep on spinnin’... till the end..till the end.. till the end!!!”

  After midnight Benita found Pablo relaxing and chatting away out on the patio with some people he knew and before she could say “Hey where were you!” He was introducing her as his fiancé to a weird but handsome looking guy named Al. Knowing Pablo all this time she had learned to go along with Pablo’s crazy but funny ideas, he really knew how to create a fun scenario and people believed him, so with a nod she was happy to meet his friends. By two in the morning they had been to Al’s apartment just down the street, had a Pina Colada, a cigarette, and were back at the disco, dancing and laughing. Pablo decided to go to after-hours somewhere with his friends and Benita decided to just drive home.  

  She was sleepy and exhausted and driving home alone was going to be very difficult, as exhausted as she felt. Staying awake was the main focus.  “I’m going to fall asleep!” she yelled out the car window pulling off the freeway on Rampart Avenue, desperate for a coffee to keep her awake, turning down several unfamiliar streets, she soon became lost in a residential neighborhood. Earlier that day she had wondered in a state of gloom on the fact that El Monte was beginning to look so run down. She now noticed that this neighborhood in the eastern part of Los Angeles was far worse.

  The walls everywhere had graffiti writing all over them and many houses had iron bars on the windows and doors. Turning down another street she heard gunshots from somewhere behind her. There was a coffee shop just ahead at a major street corner, but after approaching the intersection and hearing more guns go off, she passed up the coffee idea for the freeway onramp she saw a half a block ahead.

  Once on the freeway heading home she rolled down the window, sucked in the cold night air and turned the radio full blast singing, trying desperately to stay awake. She remembered cruising through East L.A.  with Eddie and Letty when they were freshmen in school. Eddie’s family  had moved to El Monte from East L.A. when  he was in 8^th grade . Letty had cousins that lived in the City Terrace area of East Los Angeles.  The one good memory she had of East L.A. was going to Tommys for chili burgers. They were world famous and always had a long line of hungry customers.

  Lying in her warm bed she was exhausted beyond sleep, unable to fall asleep right away, planning next Friday’s disco night in Hollywood. The thumping of the Disco beat still in her memory. Then her next thoughts were of Mickey Lord, her ex-boyfriend. How many crazy Disco nights would it take to forget about him and the past? The loneliness and the pain still lingered. She thought about trying again to call him but every time she picked up the phone, her tear filled vision and shaking fingers just couldn’t dial the number ... “Tomorrow I will write in my new journal...”  she thought as she finally fell asleep.

                 

                     

                                                                    May, 1978

                                                       The Whiskey A Go-Go

     Going out to the disco every weekend had started to seem so hum-drum and normal that Benita and her friends, including Robby in her drama class, pondered on some fun and different things to do. Last weekend she met Robby’s cousin Miko who was a very different sort of teenager. He was into the Punk music scene in Hollywood and dressed and went to Punk Clubs in Hollywood. They decided they wanted to go to a Punk Club with Miko who seemed quite amused at the idea.

  Miko bought all his clothes at the Thrift Store. Benita went with them shopping in Pasadena and for a few dollars had herself a pair if black tight pants that had gatherings along the sides, a white mans shirt four sizes too big, a thin black tie, and some old kung-fu patches from who-knows where to pin on the shirt. Miko had her put her hair in several ponytails sticking up and insisted it should be slightly messy looking. She wore some purple lipstick and black eyeliner thick and completely around her eyes. This was going to prove interesting. The plan was to get to Hollywood early, walk up and down Hollywood Blvd, looking in shops and eating at a grill, going to the ‘Whiskey-A-Go-Go’ at nine in the evening and at midnight go to the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Miko showed them some Punk moves especially the ‘Pogo Dance’.

  Walking down Hollywood Blvd on a Friday afternoon with a crowd of people mainly consisting of tourists and vendors trying to sell stuff to the tourists, seemed like fun at first. A car full of teens sped by yelling out at the Punk looking threesome, “Punks are stupid!” Robbie and Benita had a fit of laughing while the more serious hardcore Miko flipped them off as the car sped off. Benita started to become aware that things might not be going too well when Miko shoved his way into a record store bumping into a big biker dude with a beard and tattoos of naked women all up his arms. Miko had disappeared inside the store and Robby was nowhere to be seen right then as the biker turned to Benita and sneered, “Freak of nature bitch!” Just as he was reaching out trying to grab a ponytail she ducked and dove between a small group of Japanese tourists who were then trying to take her picture. They took some shots of the biker dude instead as Benita hurried to the back of the store where Miko was browsing the records as if nothing had ever happened.

  “You almost got me killed, Miko! How are we going to get out of here?” She was also wondering where Robby had gone. He was not in the store at the moment. Miko led her out the back door to the parking lot where the car was. Robbie was standing there waiting by the car with a bag of souvenirs and trinkets. “Where were you guys? I lost you at the candy store!” he asked and then said, “I wanted to buy some candy but the old lady behind the counter kept skipping me and helping others first! Can you believe it? Just because I’m dressed this way she hated me.” Miko acted like “Yeah, I get that all the time from people and they wonder why I get aggressive and demanding sometimes.” Benita thought aloud, “Yes, I saw the horrible way guys were looking at me and most people were trying to ignore me too!” Miko just laughed.

  They drove again down Hollywood Blvd and saw that the Broadway musical, ‘Hello Dolly’ was currently playing at the Pantages Theatre. “Hey! Lets get a group together to come see the musical!” Benita said as she mentally made a list of friends and plans to arrange the outing. Robby exclaimed excitedly, “Oh I do want to see that musical, yes I do!” as they finally headed towards Sunset Blvd.

   Finally at 8:30 in the evening they waited in a line which stretched around the block and down Sunset Blvd, to see a band Benita had not heard of called, The Dickies. While waiting, Miko rambled on about the history of the Whiskey a Go Go. The Whiskey had been through some interesting eras of live music and entertainment. In the late 60’s and early 70’s they featured a variety of live Rock bands, some even before they became famous, including Led Zeppelin and the Doors.

  In 1975 they tried to turn it into a discotheque to make money but by 1977 they caught on to the idea of live rock music again and the local Punk Rock scene took over. Miko told them, “I was one of the first Punk Rockers here and those of us who were the first, we all know who we are and who the new punkers are. I saw the Ramones and the Sex Pistols here. They have other rock bands here too, besides Punk. Last December I saw a band that was a lot like Led Zeppelin. They are from Pasadena and I think the band is called ‘Van Halen’, but I like Punk bands better.”

  “Why have I never heard of any of those bands? They must be new.” Thought Benita as the line started to slowly move toward the entrance of the Whiskey. She knew that she had let herself become so Disco crazed that she had lost interest in any other style of music.  But she was not going to admit that, she was now a part of the punk crowd going to the Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood. “If Mickey knew I was here he would be shocked!” she mentioned out loud to whoever would hear. No one was listening. Benita made a mental effort to push aside thoughts of Mickey, and with a sigh entered the Whiskey A Go Go.

  The band was so loud you couldn’t talk to one another. The live music wasn’t the only entertainment inside. The people who crowded the place were almost more fun to watch than the band. Miko was out in the dance pit slamming against other punkers and Benita smiled at the thought of throwing Mickey Lord in there, as well as all those other normal guys at Church who she had dated. She had gone out with Mickey’s younger brother Joey last year and he was the only one she could think of that probably wouldn’t be shocked with this crowd of people.

  He was one guy she partied with to try and forget about Mickey. All it did was remind her of him more when the beer took over her emotions so she had put that date to a screaming stop.

  “No more guys. Just fun and dancing!” She reminded herself.

The Whiskey proved to be an interesting adventure. Robby was talking to some girls who said they had their own band. Benita joined in the conversation and one of them introduced herself as Lita and though you could hardly hear anything with the band playing in the background the other girl said her name was something that sounded like ‘Jo’. The girls were asking everyone they could find to come to their concert at the Whiskey next month on June 2^nd, and wanted us to pass out flyers for them. They said they were already quite famous in England and Japan. Benita started to say that she would do it as Miko staggered up and started yelling, “Hey it’s almost midnight!”
  Robby started telling them, “Oh sorry, we have to go now” Through the loud volume of the band Benita tried asking for the name of the girls band as Robby was pulling her by the arm toward the exit. While the band screamed on, she thought she heard the other girl yelling out at her to “run away!”

  The ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ was just down the street and they got there just in time to find decent seats. Half the audience was dressed up like the characters in the movie. Audience participation was part of the entertainment value. Some people had seen the movie dozens of times and had the songs and entire script memorized. When the Time Warp song came on everyone jumped up and went through the whole routine.

  Benita had a great idea. She imagined bringing that guy that had been been meekly asking her out for weeks, here to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show and scare the pants off him.

  That nice seemingly Christian guy, Mark Craft had tried to prove himself a loyal friend and had called her every week offering rides to Church ever since Mickey had broken up with her. Then Benita got her new car, a 1976 Plymouth Arrow and did not require his charity any longer. Regardless, he called her then and started asking her to join him for other events. As a friend, she accompanied him to Church outings, Snow skiing trips, Miniature Golf and the Beach.

  Now he was starting to call her and ask to go to the Movies, and out to Dinner. She smelled a date and dating was not what she wanted to be doing right now. Besides, Mickey had seemed upset last month when Mark told Mickeys brother Joey that he couldn’t wait to ‘get some action’ from Benita. Mickey overheard them when he walked in on them and started to argue on Benitas behalf when Joey proudly informed Mickey that he himself had ‘seen some action’ with Benita. Mickey called Benita the next day and told her about the situation. She felt hurt and disappointed that Mark said those things and that Mickey now questioned her virtue. He also warned her saying, “You better watch what you do with those guys because they are all saying stuff about you that you wouldn’t like!”

   Benita sat in the movie theatre thinking, “If Mark Craft wants to see a movie that bad, he can bring me to the Rocky Horror Picture Show!” She decided to bring some of the props used by the audience. “Let’s see, I need to bring toast, rice, a lighter, a water squirter...” she made a mental list of the props and smiled as the movie ended.

  While driving home Benita thought about all those people at the Whiskey A Go Go. “Do they dress differently at school or at work? I wonder which ones live that way?” She knew that she probably would never go to a Punk club ever again, even though she had a blast, it just wasn’t like Disco.

  She dropped off Miko and Robby and drove down Garvey Avenue which was now nearly deserted and peacefully quiet. Her Diary was at home, under the bed, waiting for this episode. She thought about staying up for another hour writing it all down in the diary. She was so tired. It would do no harm to just close her eyes for just two seconds or so she thought as she awoke suddenly with a jolt!

  Her car had hit the curb as she dozed off and the reality of it hit her. Benita, more wide awake than ever, heart racing with the near crash she had almost faced, continued driving home grateful to be in one piece, at three thirty in the morning. The diary would wait until another day. She went to bed and forced thoughts of loneliness out of her mind.

             

Character comments (2004)

     “We were serious dancers… We were performers; we did enough shows to prove that.   We did get into that free-style dancing they called "punking" (though it had nothing to do with punk).   We were quasi punk rockers from hanging out at Madam Wong’s, The Whiskey, On Club and various underground clubs with Ricky and Bobby.  But most of all, we were all best friends that had one hell of a time having fun in our youth.  We definitely have stories for our grand kids.”

 Pablo 2005

Character comments (2004)

     “Yes, tis true Pablo and I  go WAY back, way back to the Farrah Flip and the Earth shoe.  Way back to Donna Summer and Wolfman Jack before Rick Dees kicked him off the airwaves with Disco Duck.   Back when the double dipped at Tastee Freeze (my first job) was but a few coins to purchase.   Ah,  but for the days of The Carol Burnet Show and Roller Boogie… ”     Robby  2005 

       

 

Yesterday, Today and the Day After Next Year.......

Forgive me for I have sinned....It has been over a year since my last blog!

    Well well, here we are again. I went on

many job interviews last year and finally landed a Hair-cutting Job at 'Cool Cuts 4 Kids!'....after 20 years away from my salon career, I had some catching up to do...or more like Cutting Up to Do!

   This November will mark my one year anniversary back on the job....cutting hair. It is fun and challenging at the same time. I work with four seasoned stylists who are quite remarkable in all they do with childrens hair! In fact, our salon was recognized on Yelp with top salon reviews!

   I am still singing with Smooth Touch...well, I WAS singing up until a few months ago when my throat/vocal chords  got worse. I took the month of August off, to no avail. After three nights in a row at Mistys Lounge, I woke up Sunday morning with absolutely NO VOICE....I worked all day at the salon and somehow managed to sell more hair products than usual! LOL!!!

   SOOOOoooo..... I have decided to post some chapters from my book , "Escape From El Monte"  in this Blog! 

 

 Football season is here! Why not get the avon NFL mens watch
 as a gift for your special someone, Dad. Grandpa, Uncle,
College student,  Sports fanatic friend....
To order AVON from me go to www.youravon.com/BenitaB  

Blog Blog Blog Blog.....I keep putting off posting here and poof! Almost half a year goes by! I am now going to copy and paste a sample unedited chapter from my next book.  (That I have been working on for over four years!) 


Here is the Intro Chapter One!...

                                                               1.

                                             Funky Town

                                                El Monte

                     “Gotta move on…gotta move on…gotta move on…”

     My name is Benita Morgan. I lived and grew up in El Monte, California, a city nestled between the San Gabriel River and Rio Hondo River, a seven-mile stretch of fertile San Gabriel River land a dozen miles east of Los Angeles.

     My Mom, Josefina Gonzalez-Morgan came from Mexico. She met Lee Morgan at a Fiesta in a small town not far from  Juarez. She did not know any English, My dad knew very little Spanish, although he took it in school. .

    My daddy grew up in Burlington, Colorado, a small town in the east plains of Colorado. He was drafted into the Army in WW2 after he had finished College for Civil Engineering.

    He was in El Paso working a surveying job for the federal Government when he went into Juarez Mexico looking for a wife.

    Lee and Josefina  were married at a courthouse in Mexico and lived there for a while. They lived in many places before settling down in this busy El Monte town around 1956.

    This book tells my story from 1979 to 1993. By the end of 1979, my two sisters had by now, moved out on their own. My oldest sister Tracy had her own Mobile Home in Chino and worked at Alpha Beta and then Zodys department store.

    My other sister Elva got married in 1978 and already had her hands full with two adorable and very hyperactive boys, Brant and Kent. Both sisters seemed to be very happy with their lives.

    Since I turned 19, I could do pretty much what I wanted as long as I did some of the things my Dad expected of me, like, attending College full time and paying him back for my car insurance. Small things really, but at that time I didn’t think so.

    I had attended Rio Hondo College since the fall of 1978. I was still not sure what I wanted to do with my life and a career. I thought about becoming a Forest Ranger since I really love the outdoors, hiking and backpacking whenever I could, but my sister Tracy, who took Forestry at Mt. SAC College in Pomona said that she had a hard time with the Chemistry requirement and she ended up changing her major to Interior Design. She said it was too much work.

    Then I thought about becoming a Veterinary Assistant but my other sister Elva said that I would have to dig through dog and cat poop looking for worms and diseases and stuff. The way she said it grossed me out so I gave up that idea. I hated the idea of working in an office. That summer job Elva got me in 1976, with a bunch of other teens, was a nightmare from the start. I nearly froze to death in huge rooms full of file cabinets, working for a large Insurance Company pulling out files with certain numbering on them. They didn’t bother explaining why they wanted us to pull the files. If some asked, they were told it was none of our business, but they just wanted us to do as told without question, and fast!

     My passion was singing but I had no idea how to break into a career in performing. I decided to major in Theater Arts. The teachers in all my Theater Arts acting classes did their best to warn us how hard it would be to make it in Hollywood or Broadway.  I walked about on the Rio Hondo College campus daily with a feeling of hopelessness and doom. I felt as if everyone wanted to discourage me in what I wanted to do. I took all the General Education requirements and had way too much fun with the electives they offered, Tennis, Tap Dance, Backpacking, Art, Television Production, Film Making, and  to the jest of some student jokers, Underwater Basket Weaving 101…

     I was determined to find the right career, something I would be passionate about, and I was also set on finding the right man to marry, someone who would let me be just silly ol’ me. Someone to laugh with, go backpacking with, buy a house with, have my two kids with.

    I dreamed of that family home, a house on a hill, with fruit trees all around and dogs in the backyard. I dreamed of a handsome husband who worked hard, made enough money to live comfortably; an outdoors man who loved camping and fishing with the family at the beach and in the mountains.

    I fantasized about singing all my favorite Disco hits in Los Angeles, Hollywood and maybe even Las Vegas Casinos. I wanted to someday take my kids to Hawaii or on a Cruise or maybe back to the Grand Canyon where I had my first dreams of traveling the wonders of the world.

     Everyone has dreams. Our goal in life is to fulfill as many of those dreams as possible, and to help others we love and care about fulfill their dreams.

     I was a twenty year old girl, with so little experience in life or anything, learning lessons the hard way when expecting things to come the easy way. 

                                           4

                              Ladies Night

             The Lie Detector Test and The Party

               "If you hear any noise, it ain't the boys.."

     It was a slightly warmer December than usual in 1979. I had a part time job for the Christmas shopping season at a jewelry store in the Puente Hills Mall. They never did interview me, because I was only being hired as a gift-wrapping clerk for minimum wage. But since I would be handling expensive jewelry, and gold was at an all-time high in the market, they sent me to the Police department for background checks and a lie detector test.

      Before I went, I had to fill out and sign some more papers at the store, and a lady clerk in her mid twenties that was working there pulled me aside for a little word of advice. “When you take the lie detector test…well….make sure you …um….when they ask you if you smoke marijuana….tell them yes!” I look at her with shock in my eyes and she looked at me knowingly and continued, “They…automatically assume that every teenager now days, smokes marijuana….if you say no, they will think it’s a lie and use that to gauge the rest of the test!” I started to ask, “But…” and she cut in, “Even if you NEVER have tried marijuana, you have to tell them you DID - so they will KNOW… you are being honest!”

     I left the mall and headed to the Police Station. I was more than confused about the lie detector test. Do I lie so they think I am honest? Do I tell the truth and make them think I’m a liar? Should I just forget about this job and find something else? I did not know what I should tell them. The last time I could even remember smelling marijuana was during the summer in 1978 when I was driving to a rehearsal and the guy I was giving a ride with me to the Park Plaza Playhouse, lit up a joint! Should I tell the police that story?.. Will I go to jail once they find out?... Will they take my Driver license away?... Does the clerk at the jewelry store want me to fail the test for her own job security…does she smoke?....but she seemed sincere at the time….help me Jesus!…You forgave me…but will they?

    I was so stressed out about the lie detector test that I walked into another office that was not even the Police Station. I finally found the place and took the test, and to this day, I don’t remember what my answers were to any of the questions except for one question that will never ever leave my memory. They asked me about half way through the testing… “How long has it been since you last smoked marijuana?” I was expecting a ‘yes or no’ type question and found myself momentarily surprised by the matter of fact-ness of the question. You would have thought they were just commenting about the mild weather conditions. I remembered the rehearsal driving episode from 1978 and replied honestly, “About a year.”

    I worked at this Jewelry store and learned much about dealing with all sorts of human characters. Bosses that knew it all. Male employees and their prejudices, jealous female co-workers and pretend customers who are actually skilled experienced thieves.

    There was something about most of the Jewelry Store managers I worked with. They did not want to be Jewelry Store managers. It just rather happened to them somehow unknowingly by fate. They woke up one day and realized they were suit and tie Jewelry store managers. (One of them actually told me this) They actually aspired to become rich business owners, politicians, stock exchange experts, geologists  and one manager after he got to know me better, confided in me that he was sure he was destined to become a famous singer, like Elvis, but better. I drove home laughing my head off until I thought of the singer. I was too much like him and it scared me. If I pursued a singing career, would I find myself ten years from now, working in a retail store as a salesperson or heaven forbid, in Management?

     I decided I was going to make my New Years resolution for 1980 in advance. I would pursue my dreams that I wanted to pursue, and to find the right man to help me forget. I needed to forget about my ex-boyfriends, Mickey and Carlos. I decided I had to do everything that Mickey didn’t like me doing. Every night I had nightmares about all the cruel head-trip games Mickey had pulled on me. There was a certain satisfaction in doing what I needed to do instead of  what someone else expected me to do.

     My job at Hatfield Jewelers in the Puente Hills Mall was not really going that well at first, but I loved just... being at the Mall. Employees of the Puente Hills Mall were required to park  ‘waaaay’ out in the furthest parking spaces, saving the closer spots for the actual shoppers. I made a friend at the Jewelry store that I worked with, her name was Phyllis. She was very excitable and opinionated but loved to laugh at everything.  We were both total Disco fanatics. We thought it unfair that the older, balding, slightly plump store managers always broke rules. One in particular tended to park right up close, half the time, complaining about back pain and other ailments.

      Every day he came in to the store, hung his keys in the back break area where we all hung our purses, and parked his self in the diamond ring sales area. I was normally posted inside a circular glass watch display unit in the direct center of sales floor, selling expensive watches. I knew next to nothing about the difference between Rolex and Timex watches, but I somehow attracted a steady flow of men, which was the sole reason for management placing me there.

     Phyllis was usually in the office typing statements, filing, and gossiping about anything she could think of. The other girl in the office, Peggy, was a bit arrogant with me but pretended politeness whenever the manager was around. When the manager was not there, I ceased to exist in her little corner of the office.

    One day Phyllis and I were discussing the parking problem intently. We were required to wear nice dresses and shoes with heels to work and the hike on the asphalt was wearing down our nice shoes. We decided that the thing to do was to wear slippers in the parking lot and change into our nice shoes in the store. Then the subject of the rule twisting and lazy manager came up between us and Phyllis had the most scandalous idea.

    During her lunch break she planned to take the Managers keys, hanging with our purses and go out to his El Camino car and move it a bit farther out. When her break came she dashed out as fast as she could, hurrying to get to his car and move it further out.

    When we locked up the store at 9pm, we all walked out to the parking lot together. He made no comment as he peered around the near empty front lot and discovered his car a little further out. Still, Phyllis and I were parked much further out and made a big show of limping in pain as we proceeded further out to our cars. There were also many other Mall employees parked back there, walking wearily to their cars.

    The next day Phyllis borrowed his keys and did it again, this time parking his El Camino way out where we were parked. It just so happened, that day, he had a long lunch meeting with other managers and they had enjoyed cocktails at one of the mall restaurants they frequented. His moods were unpredictable when he drank, sometimes jolly, sometimes dark and moody.

    He was talking and walking with the other girl, Peggy, and Phyllis and I were taking deep long breaths, trying hard not to giggle and give ourselves away. When he looked around scratching his head confused, baffled, I had to stifle a, what would have been an incriminating laugh, when I saw the look on his face. His chubby cheeks were flushed a bright red, his eyes popping out as he yelled out, “My cars been stolen! Somebody call the police!”

    Phyllis had a slightly panicked look to her as she continued walking a little too briskly toward her car. Peggy was looking around the lot as she said, “Are you sure you parked up here, I thought… we were all supposed to park out there…” She then pointed to the employee parking area further away, where most of thel mall employees were headed.

    “I…I…I don’t remember….I’m sure I parked here!” he half yelled and mumbled at the same time. Phyllis was halfway out to the employee area when she pointed and yelled, “Hey! Isn’t that your El Camino, over there?”

    The Manager shook his head, grumbling to himself  as he recognized sight of a car that might be his. Then Peggy, the stuck up queen of the office, caught up to me, leaving the confused man behind and said, “What a drunk idiot! …He can’t even remember where he parked his stupid old car!” Her comment made me giggle and she looked at me up and down as if assessing me and asked, “Hey, I’m going to a frat party this Friday night…wanna come?”

    “Really?...Where is the party?”

    “It’s at the frat house of my friend at Cal State Fullerton…lots of cute guys will be there…..you will definitely have fun…”

    “Wow! I would really love to go with you!”

    “Okay, come to my house and I’ll drive us in my new car.”

    Peggy had just acquired a new 1979 Chevy Camaro, a gift from her, ‘well-to-do’ parents. She was a student at Cal State Fullerton and worked at the Jewelry Store part-time for just a little extra spending cash. I had been to her house in Diamond Bar once, dropping her off after work when her other used car had broken down. Her bedroom was a spacious upstairs loft with a partial kitchen and deck. She had a pet parakeet that she let fly loose in her room. When she walked into her room, the little blue bird would fly to her, landing on her head. I thought her behavior a little more than strange. She was a completely, totally spoiled brat kid. She picked her friends and then made trouble for them later.     

     I should have known better then to accept her prompt invitation to a college frat party. Phyllis had warned me about her the first day at work. Peggy spelled trouble by the way her eyebrows raised and her smile, seeming a bit too mischievous. Nevertheless, I had not been to a real college frat party before. What harm would trying it just once be?

     The chubby manager found his car and eyed Peggy and I suspiciously, as he drove off. After a brief conversation with Peggy discussing what she thought I should wear, Peggy sped off in her new Camaro. Then Phyllis hopped out of her parked car and said, “Do you think he suspects something?”

    “I think he will suspect something if you ever do this again…Phyllis…We could get fired over this!”

    “Well, for minimum wage, getting fired just means getting another minimum wage job!...Lets go to Janels Bar  for a Pina Colada!” Phyllis said.  

     “I’m not 21 yet…remember?” I said.

     “No problem…no ID required  at Janels Night Club tonight!  Hey… I have a friend that makes fake ID’s. I’ll tell him to make you one tomorrow and you and I can hit the Red Onion Disco in West Covina next week!”

     “Oh no! That could get me in trouble! I can’t do that!”  Phyllis looked at me like I was crazy and replied laughingly, “Well it will get you in…if you feel so guilty then just don’t drink anything but sodas!”

      “Oh my gosh! I really want to see that Disco, and I heard Red Onion has the cutest guys!” I said, a little too enthusiastically, but Phyllis didn’t seem to notice as she continued blabbing.

     “There’s another Club called the Gas House in Covina. My friend is a waitress there…once you have  your  ID, she’ll get us in for free and get us a free Pina Colada!”

     “Well I guess…I don’t mind that at all…I’m tired of driving to Hollywood to Disco, I want to see the night life around here!” I said.

     With my radio blasting KIIS FM Disco music, I followed Phyllis to Janels Night Club in La Puente.

     Phyllis was right, I had no trouble getting in with her. She seemed to know everyone there, right down to the bouncer and bartender! It was a small Disco but the lighting and music sounded pretty good. We ordered our Pina Coladas and sat there watching the dancing. After a few songs, Phyllis got up and went to request a song with the DJ and I sat there alone. I was beginning to think I should just go home, the crowd was not my type, most of the people could not dance that well. They were Disco wanabees dressing in polyester and platform shoes, but that ‘Hollywood’ type excitement was just not there. I started to grab my purse when the waitress walked up with another Pina Colada. “This is from the gentleman at the bar.”

     I turned to look at the guys sitting at the bar and the one guy looking my way just had to be the goofiest looking oriental guy I had ever seen. Then I thought perhaps he was some sort of Latin, with his dark skin. It was dark in there but you could not mistake the oriental eyes.  When he got up to approach my table I noticed that he was dressed rather nicely, no polyester, just… nice or… how did my friend Pablo call it…GQ.

    I nervously looked around for Phyllis but she was shaking her booty happily on the dance floor to her requested song, ‘Ladies Night’. The man came up and sat on Phyllis’s chair next to mine. “So, you know Phyllis?” I thought about saying ‘who doesn’t know Phyllis’ but just nodded my head in a yes manner. He smiled and his round face suddenly became humorously rounder, making me smile when I rather would have laughed aloud.  “My name is Benita!” I said, a little louder than I perhaps should have by the way he jumped. “My name is Johnny,” He said, barely audible above the Disco sounds. “Nice to meet you.” I said. Didn’t this kind of conversation mean you were generally bored with the moment? Next thing you know, he’ll say ‘ Nice weather we’re having?’ Please Phyllis get me out of here.

     He stood up and asked, “Would you like to dance?”

     “Sure…okay…” So I got up to join the crowd on the dance floor. The DJ was fading out ‘Ladies Night’ into ‘Do You Think I’m Sexy’ and I groaned my disappointment working my way dancing, toward the DJ booth. When I got close enough I yelled over to the DJ “Can you play ‘Instant Replay’?”

He looked at me with a “What?”

     “INSTANT REPLAY!” I repeated as loud as I could, noticing  that the effects of the Pina Coladas were kicking in.  “Sorry lady, I only play each song once!”

I shook my head and just…. Danced. After a few minutes the DJ faded out the Rod Stewart song into a Village People hit, ‘In The Navy!’ The crowd cheered and went nuts and I just wanted to scream and get the heck out of there! This crowd was way behind with the Disco hits- at the mercy of the Disc Jockeys limited record collection. After dancing and ignoring Johnny, I downed the last sour taste of my Pina Colada and grabbed my purse to leave. Johnny followed me outside, trailing me to my car and asked, “Will I see you again here…maybe Saturday night?”

    “Oh sure…I can’t wait t come back here!”  I had made up my mind, I wouldn’t be back.

    “Okay I’ll see you then!” I noticed his peculiar accent just then…“Yeah sure… Hey by the way... What nationality are you?”

    “I’m Pilipino” Did he say ‘Pillow’? How many Pina Coladas did I drink?

    “You’re what?”  I didn’t quite hear him right.

    “I am Filipino!”

    “Ohhh…I see” He was starting to look cuter…  “um…where  is Filipino?” Where was my head?

    Blinking his eyes in surprise he said, “It dis a similar to da Polynesian  or Hawaiians, but we have de Spanish too.”

I had heard my dad talking about the Philippines in World War Two but I still did not know much about the people, and geography. I decided to look up the Philippines in my dads World book Encyclopedia when I got home.

    The next morning at breakfast, I asked my dad what the people were like in the Philippines when he was there. Now normally, if I asked my dad a question about anything, he would go on for an hour on the subject or he would run over and pull out the Encyclopedia or fetch one of his National Geographic Magazines on the subject. For some unknown reason to me, he just shrugged his shoulders and said, they ate rice, pork and fish and sometimes dogs and the men were crazy when it came to gambling and would gamble all their money away and then the chickens and sometimes even gamble their wife away.” At the mention of wives my mom put that scowl on her face and started in on it. “Lee have his girlfriends there…sus novias… toda via esperando por el…ha ha!” My dad smiled and said “Magandan gabi!” and got up and left the room. I had no idea what he just said.

    I drove to work with a headache and couldn’t remember the Filipino guys name, but the words ‘Magandan gabi’ kept repeating itself in my head. Phyllis seemed upset with me for leaving the Disco so soon. It seemed she was cranky with everyone feeling a little ‘under the weather’ all day at  work. I never dreamed that I would spend the next several months dating only Filipino guys. They liked going out Disco Dancing and hanging out with each other in groups.

    Friday night came and I went with Peggy to the Cal State Fullerton College Party! The large house was packed with College students. Some of the guys were very handsome. Out in the back yard there were three kegs of beer in trash cans full of ice. In the living room area there was a bar with mixed cocktails and snacks. Peggy downed a plastic cup of beer in three seconds flat, re-filled the cup and started dancing with some guy in the patio area where the DJ was set up and I went inside to take advantage of the snacks. The guy at the bar encouraged me to take a tray of ‘Seven-Layer’ dip to a table at the other end of the room, as if, I would be doing him a favor. I sat the tray down on the table and after munching out on some of it, I went back to the backyard dancing and Disco music scene.

     To my dismay, Peggy was gone. So was her dance partner. I looked in the den, the kitchen and in a few of the other rooms; but no Peggy. Shrugging my shoulders in defeat, I grabbed two plastic cups full of beer, pretending like I was getting one of them for someone else, and went back into the living room, sitting at the table alone, where the seven layer dip lay, half finished already. After downing one of the cups of beer enjoying the Disco music creeping in from the backyard, I thought about going out to check and see if her car was still parked outside. If it was gone then I would have to call a cab or hitch a ride with someone else.

     I convinced myself to calmly stay put as I picked up that second beer. A longhaired, sunburned surfer looking guy was suddenly seated in the chair next to me. He looked unusually out of place compared to the cleaner cut-shorter haired College students in ironed collard shirts and slacks.

    “Hey, howsit!” He mumbled as he scooped a chip full of dip into his mouth.

    “Hi.” It was all I could mumble absently as I worried about where Peggy was.

He started talking about surfing and Huntington Beach, which immediately grabbed my attention as surfing was one of my recent past hobbies; my old boyfriend Mickey and I had practically lived at the beach the last two summers. Before I knew it, we had sat there eating dip and talking about surfing for over an hour and not once did the guy try a line on me or even ask me what my name was. I kept an eye out for Peggy, hoping she would somehow find me. The surfer dude got me two more beers and he kept talking about surfing, his conversation migrating from Huntington Beach to San Clemente, San Onofre and on down south to San Diego.

    The beers had soaked in right along with the Seven-layer dip. I was feeling relaxed and sat there daydreaming about Mickey when I became startled by a screeching girl who turned out to be Peggy.

    “What are you doing?” She blinked focusing on me like a Mom scolding her 5 year old. She displayed a harsh frown towards the Surfer guy who had just started talking about taking me to Baja to surf, but was cut short by Peggy’s evil look. She then grabbed my arm and said, “Let’s go!”

    A few wrong turns in her Camaro and back around finally brought us to the freeway. I sat in her car scared stiff unable to get a word in edgewise with her apparent inability to stop talking and scolding and fussing and crying and “Oh My God what were you thinking talking to that BUM who crashed a party he wasn’t invited to….”  And “You drank too much, how are you going to get home?...You Can’t drive!” I think she was feeling the effects of the beer more than I but I kept my mouth shut.

     She missed the exit to her house, where my car was parked and abruptly announced that I needed food and a soda, at least that was her excuse missing the exit there.  She drove through a fast food place called Naugles, famous for their Egg Burritos. She ordered burritos for us both and we sat in the parking lot eating them. I finally had the chance to ask her, while she chewed on her burrito, “So where did you disappear to?” Her face turned a beet reddish color and then she became indignant and extremely angry in her sputtering burrito reply, “You embarrassed me at the party, all my friends thought you and that surfer guy were party crashers together! Then I had to admit to them that I brought you with me to the party. I’m never taking you to a party ever again!” I shook my head and realized that I was now in the company of public enemy number one and their would be trouble at work because of this weird misunderstanding. I couldn’t wait to get out of this car and away from her spoiled little attitude. I didn’t even want to argue back. She was never a real friend and never would be.

    The next afternoon when I showed up at the Jewelry store, Peggy had worked the early shift and I walked in to the store hearing her loud complaints, “She embarrassed me, she’s an alcoholic…out of control…”

     Phyllis looked up from her desk and saw me and shook her head mouthing, “I told you so!” I would have loved to explain to everyone that I was deserted at a party where I knew no one, and some surfer guy sat there and talked about surfing all night while I ate chips and dips. But right about then one of the managers decided it was time to stop gossiping about personal failures and get to work helping customers. Peggy was getting off work early, claiming to feel sick to her stomach from a burrito she ate. Phyllis looked at me knowingly. After she left one of the salesmen came over to me and said, “You, my dear, are not the first victim of Peggy’s escapades….we all tend to avoid her now.”

    I could hear Phyllis laughing and I just smiled and went to work. I sold a Rolex watch that day. Too bad I was just a part time clerk who wasn’t eligible for commission. 

                                                     End of Chapter 4 

Aaaahhhh.... Soooo.....now you know  little about my 70's past. Now today I just got back from camping in Big Bear. Actually we camped at Green Valley Lake and drove in to Big Bear City for fun. We went to the Zoo. It's a refuge for rescued wildlife and a few rescued exotic pets as well. I saw the largest Bear I had ever seen! But I loved the Wolves the most. I wish they had larger enclosures for the Wolves. There were 6 or 7 of them runnng in circles around the enclosure they lived in.