Part One, Chapter 1 Childhood Born in El Monte California in 1952 The first thing I remember are the bars on my crib and a glowing light with voices coming from another room. Five years later I awake with alligators under my bed. Mommy!! Daddy!! Alligators under my bed!!! Father rescues me and holds me in his arms, for the last time. The mother stands in front of the wall heater in our dark living room. Father was leaving for a crooked nosed younger woman he met at the race track. One night as I was watching my hero Sinbad the Sailor on our black and white TV Father stopped by. The same dark ..read more

Part One, Chapter 1 Childhood Born in El Monte California in 1952 The first thing I remember are the bars on my crib and a glowing light with voices coming from another room. Five years later I awake with alligators under my bed. Mommy!! Daddy!! Alligators under my bed!!! Father rescues me and holds me in his arms, for the last time. The mother stands in front of the wall heater in our dark living room. Father was leaving for a crooked nosed younger woman he met at the race track. One night as I was watching my hero Sinbad the Sailor on our black and white TV Father stopped by. The same dark ..read more

Chapter 2 Europe/ Boston We landed in Luxembourg in the early evening and took a train for Frankfurt. There were no rooms available so we decided to continue on to Amsterdam where we finally stopped riding the trains. It was very late and with the ominous Amsterdam Centraal station over our shoulders we found a room in a small hotel and bar. The place was loud, busy, scary, dark and used primarily by hookers. Welcome to Europe! The next day we walked across the square to the Park Plaza Hotel to get our bearings and a bath. After that we found a room on the top floor of a quaint hotel on a pic ..read more

My Brother Richard Chapter 1 Vincent In an effort to fit in and to hopefully garner the attention and affection of my Brother I tried sex with a man. I picked someone that seemed nice and gave it a whirl in Stephen's bed, which really pissed him off. I was already borrowing, without permission, his homemade, very flamboyant clothes and wearing them on the streets. White pants with multi-colored knitted bell-bottoms with billowing satin shirts. The next day I couldn't wait to tell Brother. I entered his bedroom and told him the news, "I'm Gay Now!". He looked at me confused and said "oooK" and ..read more

Second Arrest On one of these afternoons while sitting on a Haight street sidewalk an acquaintance passed by. I knew him from my hometown. He was older than me and he had his own car. He told me this story of how he had buried a pound of pot in front of a suburban dentist's office in Sacramento. He asked if I would like to come along on this adventure and dig up his treasure, sounded good to me. We left that day and arrived like thieves in the night. It was a dark, well-to-do, suburban neighborhood. He stopped in front of a white house with a Dentist's shingle. He got a shovel from the trunk ..read more

Father, Pink Flamingos and Me. 'Born in El Monte California in 1952 The first thing I remember are the bars on my crib and a glowing light with voices coming from another room. Five years later I awake with alligators under my bed. Mommy!! Daddy!! Alligators under my bed!!! Father rescues me and holds me in his arms, for the last time. Mother stands in front of the wall heater in our dark living room. Father was leaving for a crooked nosed younger woman he met at the race track. One night as I was watching my hero Sinbad the Sailor on our black and white TV Father stopped by. The same dark ro ..read more

Chapter 2 Europe/ Boston We landed in Luxembourg in the early evening and took a train for Frankfurt. There were no rooms available so we decided to continue on to Amsterdam where we finally stopped riding the trains. It was very late and with the ominous Amsterdam Centraal station over our shoulders we found a room in a small hotel and bar. The place was loud, busy, scary, dark and used primarily by hookers. Welcome to Europe! The next day we walked across the square to the Park Plaza Hotel to get our bearings and a bath. After that we found a room on the top floor of a quaint hotel on a pic ..read more

My Brother Richard Chapter 1 Vincent In an effort to fit in and to hopefully garner the attention and affection of my Brother I tried sex with a man. I picked someone that seemed nice and gave it a whirl in Stephen's bed, which really pissed him off. I was already borrowing, without permission, his homemade, very flamboyant clothes and wearing them on the streets. White pants with multi-colored knitted bell-bottoms with billowing satin shirts. The next day I couldn't wait to tell Brother. I entered his bedroom and told him the news, "I'm Gay Now!". He looked at me confused and said "oooK" and ..read more

Second Arrest On one of these afternoons while sitting on a Haight street sidewalk an acquaintance passed by. I knew him from my hometown. He was older than me and he had his own car. He told me this story of how he had buried a pound of pot in front of a suburban dentist's office in Sacramento. He asked if I would like to come along on this adventure and dig up his treasure, sounded good to me. We left that day and arrived like thieves in the night. It was a dark, well-to-do, suburban neighborhood. He stopped in front of a white house with a Dentist's shingle. He got a shovel from the trunk ..read more

Karen talked me into talking with her therapist. She was concerned about my addictive behavior, so was I. It only took about five minutes with the counselor before I was sobbing. The rehab was on a lake in New Hampshire, beautiful place. It was a well spent 30 days, it set me on a path to a manageable,better life. Mother died and I wept. Went home for the funeral, gave the eulogy and drank with the relatives. I spent another year in New England before I bought a Jeep Cherokee LTD, packed it up, left Karen and headed out for destinations unknown. My first stop was a hike through the Blue Ridg ..read more