It's like putting a frog in a pot of water and gradually turning up the heat. By the time it's boiling, it's too late for the frog.
1983
JANUARY 24:
Heading to class on a rainy Monday morning, Carl cuts through
the west wing of Sutton Hall. As he nears the exit, the door to room 401
opens and out comes Nicole D'Amato -- whom Carl has admired from afar. She
offers to share her umbrella with him, and he accepts. They walk down the
road chatting away. It is the year's best moment.
Shortly thereafter, he begins to notice that 1983 is out of kilter.
By now, Nicole is spoken for. He reasons that if Simpson hadn't changed
the room assignment, and left him assigned to the west wing of Sutton Hall,
he would have noticed in time just what a gem Nicole really is. But alas,
it is too late now. The room assignment change has sent things clear off in another direction, and he spends the rest of the year pining away for the lost opportunity of winning Nicole's heart. However, he keeps Winslow in the
back of his mind.
APRIL:
Simpson applies for a job with Ichabod Summer Playhouse. He pressures
Carl into going in for the same interview. Carl does not want to work there;
he wishes to spend the summer away from him, so at the interview, he answers
questions like he's unsure of what he's talking about. The strategy is
a success: Simpson gets the job at ISP -- but Carl doesn't, and he heaves a
sigh of relief.
By the time the school year has wrapped up, Simpson has clearly established himself as an adversary. Carl looks forward to the summer, when he can be at home in peace. Simpson's constant phone calls really put a damper on any plans for another trip to Winslow. The summer isn't turning out to be what Carl hoped for, but he soon looks back on May and June as the good old days.....
JULY 4:
After spending the weekend at Carl's, the two drive back to the
headquarters of Ichabod Summer Playhouse. Simpson receives notice that due to
his lack of concern for the group, he is being fired.
Efforts to get the boss to reconsider are unsuccessful. In spite of
all the grief Simpson has caused him, Carl just can't leave him out in
the cold like this. Simpson spends the summer at Carl's house. The next
two months are hell on earth.
JULY 29:
In one of the summer's few bright moments, Carl is at a supermarket in
Venice with his mother and Simpson, and flips through the August 2 issue
of the Inquisitor. Towards the back of the tabloid is a new article on
Denise Gottlieb. He has wisely kept Simpson in the dark about Winslow, and has no intention of telling him now.
The article gives him a ray of hope during one of the worst periods
of his life.
SEPTEMBER:Things start to turn around as various events put the brakes on Simpson's reign of influence. Carl and his parents fly to New York to attend the wedding of his cousin Noreen. Another cousin, Anne, gives him an encouraging sort of pep talk.
Encouraged by the love and support he received back east, Carl gets the courage to get away from Hercules Simpson once and for all. Liberation Day occurs on the 23rd after a night at the dorm. The last person he notices as he drives away is Nicole D'Amato, walking up a hill by the Regents' Building and wearing a beautiful dress.
SEPTEMBER 24-29: Carl's parents help him arrange to go back to New York, possibly to work. They go to the Auto Club to get the route mapped out. The man at the Auto Club routes the first leg of the trip down Interstate 40 -- right through Winslow, Arizona.
SEPTEMBER 30: He departs for New York. His first stop is a friend's home outside of Anaheim.
After Vegas, he arrives in Winslow that evening and stays at the TraveLodge. The next day, he calls Craig Martin, then checks out of the room and visits Meteor Crater. He returns to Winslow in the afternoon. |
OCTOBER 8, 1983 - FEBRUARY 29, 1984:
Carl lives with his Aunt Jane and Uncle Ron in Rockland County. His uncle
has arranged for him a job interview with UPS in Manhattan.
Because his driving record is not squeaky clean, the deal falls through. His cousin Anne's boyfriend Jack gets him a job working security at Nyack Hospital for $4.25 an hour.
Almost five months in New York fail to get him a girlfriend or a decent job. He arrives home on February 29. The first person he visits at home is David Henry.
MARCH:
He returns to work at Road Runners. Concrete plans for another trip
to Winslow have yet to be formulated.
MAY 18: Driving down Pico Blvd., he passes a loading dock as an 18-wheeler is slowly backing out. He misjudges his timing, and doesn't pass the truck in time: it backs into the right rear of his car. He's not injured, but there is a gash above the right passenger window.
MAY 25, 1984:
Shortly after 3:00 in the morning, the phone rings. Carl answers "Hello?" and gets no response, only people talking in the background. He repeats "Hello?" and again gets nothing. The third time he says "Hello?" a voice sounding like Hercules Simpson comes on the line, says, "You're dead." and hangs up. Carl's father, awakened by the ringing, comes out to ask who it was. When Carl tells him, his father cautions him to call Road Runners later and tell them not to give him any runs to Thousand Oaks.
Carl gets in his car and re-parks it a quarter of a mile away, outside Doug Craighead's house. Later that day, Greg James asks if he can borrow the car to cruise around with Craig Martin and Mike Bonham. Carl says okay; he's not going anywhere.
They return the next morning and tell him that someone ran them off the road
while they were up in the mountains, and the car got rolled. He goes to
Craig's house to retrieve the car.
Craig, Greg and Mike are uninjured. The car is totaled. Strangely enough, the engine starts right up. Carl drives the car on its last trip: home.
Winslow? Not this summer.
Putting two and two together, Carl and his dad decide that it was Hercules Simpson who made the crank call, and he may have spotted the Tercel up in the mountains. Thinking Carl was in it, he tried to run him down.
For a while, this seems to make sense. Later he learns differently.
His employment at Road Runners suffers a series of setbacks that eventually bring it to a halt. After the car wreck, he uses an old moped for runs, but it conks out about three weeks later. Craig lets him use a dirt bike, but Greg gets into an accident with it up in Topanga. A guy named Diep Hoang smacks into Craig's street bike while David Henry is using it. By July, Carl's options are dwindled to nothing, and trip #3 to Winslow is put off for another summer. The only "trip" he takes is with his dad's Buick on August 4 to a Go-Go's concert at Irvine Meadows with Greg.
Early in September, his parents help him finance a new champagne-colored, 1984 Toyota Corolla 5-door hatchback diesel car. The road to recovery begins.
Some damage is done at Portuguese Bend down near Palos Verdes, and the car spends some time in the shop, but he makes sure it stays running. Still, there is no concrete plan for meeting Denise Gottlieb. David and Greg think it's a stupid idea, but at least Greg shows some interest in going there.
MID SEPTEMBER: Carl and his parents take a weekend company-paid trip to Phoenix. His father works at Hughes Helicopters, and the company is planning to move his job to Mesa. They tour the plant and look at various homes. A move to Mesa is highly probable at this point. This would put Carl only 180 miles south of Winslow.
NOVEMBER: Wondering why he hasn't seen hide nor hair of Nicole D'Amato, he soon learns that she is spending the second half of her education at UC Santa Clara.
1985
MARCH 8: After seeing Missing In Action II: The Beginning with
Greg James and Tony Navarro, Carl decides to take them to a USA gas station where his friend Rich Scott works, two miles from Ichabod. The Portuguese Bend damage hasn't been completely mended, though; there's been a very slow oil leak. Just as they are getting off the freeway, the engine seizes up and the car dies, a mile from the USA gas station. Carl walks there and buys oil from Rich while Greg and Tony stay with the car. They spend the night in an open room called The New Earth, located on campus.
The car suffers further damage a few days later when Carl, Craig and Greg are
towing it back to Santa Monica. It stays in the body shop for over a month
while insurance is worked out. Then it is taken across the street to the mechanic.
APRIL 29: As the repaired Corolla is undergoing a test run, it throws a rod through the block. Despite his pleading, the shop refuses to fix it. He considers suing them, but he doesn't have the money for court costs and Craig points out that it may be months before the case would even come up. The car is taken back home, and plans for going to Winslow are shelved for yet another summer.
* * * AUGUST 28: Carl and his mother drive to Mesa. His father stays in California until October 11.
CONTINUED...
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