Friday, August 10, 2007

26 Miles Across the Sea

Thanksgiving Day, 1981.

I was at my Grandparents' house with everyone else. My uncle Randy and my Grandfather left early. They had to drive to the boat. Grandpa had a Cal '34 and later a Morgan '38. We had sailed to Catalina many times during the summer. Never during the winter as the seas are rough and the weather bad to downright nasty.

They were headed to Cat Harbor, the Isthmus, the North part of Catalina Island.

I am still attempting to sort out the rest of the details but they returned later the following week. My Uncle Randolph looked at me and told me "we just killed your mother and if you tell anyone or cause us any problems the same thing will happen to you!"

My mother? Kill me? I'm 13.

I have never had a Thanksgiving without some sort of episode. I now just avoid them altogether. Never really liked turkey anyway.

Later that week the news of Natalie Wood's death was all over the media. I said to my Grandmother "Oh my God Grandpa and Randy were there maybe they saw what happened?" I am almost embarrassed to believe I was ever that naive.

My Grandmother later explained to me that they had to kill her because she was blackmailing the President. I responded "Well, we can't have that as we all know that is a job best left for Nazis!"

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