Things in Glocca Morra by Peter Collier

Author:Peter Collier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Encounter Books
Published: 2020-04-15T00:00:00+00:00

I hold Daniel Goldman partly responsible for the dreams as well as this penny-ante existential dread I’ve been feeling. About ten days ago, I received a manila envelope from him with some Xeroxed pages and a note saying they had been culled from what he grandly called the “Joseph P. Kennedy Papers.” Not knowing how ruthlessly this hoard was scoured and sanitized by the family, he probably doesn’t realize that this will always be the greatest story never told.

“I thought the enclosed might interest you,” Goldman wrote, “and perhaps jog your memory and even encourage you to tell stories into the tape machine I left with you.” Then came the threat: “I’ll be calling soon so we can discuss all this.”

The Xeroxes have been on my nightstand since then. The first one—a Cartier-Bressonesque photo of Jack, Val and me completing a ride on the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round—causes total recall. We had scrambled for our favorite mounts as the previous ride was gliding to a stop. Jack climbed onto a valiant black stallion with flaring red nostrils. Val chose a more feminine palomino in front of him. I trailed behind both of them as their Sancho Panza on a small, squat horse with a drab hide.

“Let’s catch her,” Jack turned to yell to me as the calliope music started up and the platform began to move. He whipped his horse across the withers with the reins.

“You’ll never,” Val said over her shoulder. Posted elegantly in her steed’s stationary stirrups, she looked like a model advertising the equestrian life.

The merry-go-round reached cruising speed, and at each revolution I focused momentarily on the spectators in the sitting area. On a couple of turns, I saw a figure standing on a bench with a camera pointed at us, largely concealing a disconcerting face. The image he snapped that ended up in the so-called Joseph P. Kennedy Papers captures our dismount, and the essence of our position in the universe just then.

In the photograph, Val is stepping off the platform, suspended in midair with one hand grasping at empty space, appearing uncertain where or how she will land. I’ve just dropped the bridle of my horse and I’m moving forward on the apron of the carousel as if to stabilize her. Jack is standing next to his steed, smiling the smile of someone who has not yet heard the bad news.

Goldman had copied the back side of the photo too, showing the block-printed words, “Here she is.” And below that, “Beaufort 10/6/45.”

The next Xerox was of a letter dated October 13, 1945, on the official letterhead of the FBI. The typed “Dear Mr. Kennedy” had been struck out with “Dear Joseph” handwritten over it in ink:

Receipt is acknowledged of your air mail of October 9.

Thank you for your views on the labor situation in Hollywood and thank you too for the actions you have already taken during your brief time in Southern California to convince the men who count there to do everything in their power to oppose the advance of communism in the entertainment industry.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.