It's the weirdest thing. I'm having the strangest notion lately, ever since the revelation of the 1992 ELP concert came to light. I think she came to get me, and I think I rode in her car, as late as 1993. I've had a "trigger image" emerge out of the blue, of the sidewalk down near Rayen Street at the end of Rathburn. In it, I am walking south on the west side of the street, and I am passing under a mulberry tree, the leaves of which are mottling the sidewalk with shade. It is Summer, maybe late July or August. And I stop at the corner of Rathburn and Rayen, because she is coming to pick me up. She has chosen this corner because she doesn't want anyone to see us, but alas, here they come, Chris and Terry. In the imagery, which is moving now (triggered by the mulberry leaves), they have either followed me down to the end of Rathburn Avenue, trailing me as I walk, or they've found out I'm headed there, within minutes of my departure from the house, and they've hightailed it to intercept me before she arrives.
They are down there because they have their interests to protect. Their secrets. And they're worried that she's picking me up. They don't want her alone with me, because of what she could say. What she could tell me. There were times, at 9032, when that lowlife Terry lived there, that she'd call, and he'd pick up, and he wouldn't give me the phone. I'd say, "Who is it? Is it for me?" He'd keep talking, and it would only be minutes later, when he finally handed me the phone, that I'd find out it was her. And I'd wonder, "Why was he talking to her for so long?" And the reason was that he had his interests to protect - his secrets - and he probably was trying to make sure she was "on board", hoping that she was, perhaps making insinuations of what he'd do, what he'd say, if she wasn't. But I wouldn't have known any of this then, because in the early 1990s, I had no memory.
Now, I have a lot of my memory back. Its actually kind of funny, because in 2008, when I finished the first edition of "What Happened in Northridge", I estimated that I "knew" 70% of what happened in 1989. Now, since the avalanche began four months ago, I realize I only ever knew 10 - 20 %, at best. It is only now that I can say, with assurance, that I know 70 - 80%, and I'm learning more every day. I used to think the entirety of What Happened in Northridge was a 12-day event that began on September 1 and ended on September 12.
And that was gigantic enough, by itself.
But good grief, Charlie Brown, and Holy Smokes, and what have you: It turns out that it lasted all Summer!
And some of the worst incidents took place in July and August, and some of the worst violence was committed by a few goons we all know very well.
But let's not talk about them now. Let's go back to the corner of Rayen and Rathburn in 1993. She has just pulled up. Lys is with her. They want me to get into the car, but Chris and Terry are hassling them. But wait a minute, because Pat Fordyce is there, too. He arrived a few minutes earlier. Maybe he knew what was happening, and followed Chris and Terry just as they had followed me. Pat also had "interests to protect" (his own secrets), but in cases like this (or at the ELP concert), he usually sided with The Good Guys (which is not to say he was a member of the Good Guy Team, but he sometimes tried to do the right thing). On this occasion, he "runs interference" against Terry and Chris, who are there strictly to harass her when she arrives, to make sure she tells me nothing.
Threats are insinuated if she talks. One of them says, "I'm here to make sure nothing is said about me." Lys gets out of the car to help Pat get rid of these guys.
In April of '93, she called me - unsolicited - to offer to take me to lunch. I of course said yes. But it never came to pass, and she never called to cancel. And when I called her, wondering what happened to our lunch date, she had a reason why she didn't come over. And I accepted it as legit. But now I wonder if someone coerced her to cancel. Coincidentally, I gave Chris and his friend Kurt a ride to the airport that day. But that's probably just a coincidence......right?
The "trigger" image of the shady sidewalk near the Rathburn/Rayen corner first came to me about a week ago. Since then, it's gotten stronger and has built into a (probable) memory. I can see Lys getting out of the car, to assist Pat, who is arguing with Chris and Terry, telling them to "go home", or "get lost", but they aren't leaving. I can also see Lys driving the car, when we finally got rid of them.
Though the memory is only "probable" at the moment, and needs more context to confirm it, I believe that it happened. I can feel it. And I believe she came to pick me up more than once, in 1992 and (mostly) '93. I think one time we even went to a movie. It may have been the re-release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" or it may have been "Tom and Jerry: The Movie". She loves T and J. I see us having lunch afterward (maybe at a Chinese restaurant). This "movie and lunch date" is still only a notion. It doesn't yet have a context, but it's been persistent enough that I'm willing to bet that it happened. It's from a different "car ride" than the one with Lys.
And I find these "clandestine car rides" (as I've named them) not only fascinating (in the way they seem dreamlike, i.e. buried in my subconscious yet very real), but also inspiring because they mean that she never gave up. At least through 1993, and maybe longer. That makes her Marine Corps in my book, and also My Hero.
I know we went on these rides in her car. They had a purpose, she took me places and told me many things. The Rayen/Rathburn "pickup spot" is emerging from my subconscious and into my conscious memory. The imagery is becoming fluid. I have other "car ride" notions (think of notions as emergent memories) that are thus far only snapshots, but include things like the (possible) aforementioned movie-and-lunch date, and trips to see Ann at a building, possibly in NoHo or Burbank. And Lys was along at least once. She is a Hero, as well. We love Lys.
So I just want to say "thanks for being there." It's amazing that you came to get me. Thanks for stepping up to the plate, and being hardcore and Marine Corps. It's been 30 years, but I've never given up. I hope you haven't, either, and I love you.
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