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 1st 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….
.
. 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 8th
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 2nd, 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!”
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
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