Part One: Entry 19
I’m in the driver’s seat of the Cutlass. Robbie is in the passenger side and Ish is in the back. Rick Sweeney leans against the car talking with us. His father and mother pull up in a late model Monte Carlo returning from a shopping trip.
“Why don’t all of you just clear the fuck outta here?!” Rick’s dad yells.
“Ahh…yeah… Okay,” I answer with smart-ass inflection.
Rick’s dad is instantly out of his car bounding towards the Cutlass. In one fluid move I turn the ignition and put the car into gear.
“Motherfucker!” Mr. Sweeney mumbles bouncing off my door as we pull away. He then runs back to his Chevy where his wife still sits. He turns the Monte Carlo around and pursues us.
He’s on my tail in no time as we head south on Valley View Boulevard.
“Dude!” Ish yells from the backseat. “That guy’s crazy! He’s got a gun. He always carries it with ‘im. He’s got grenades and shit too! He’s a fuckin’ military nut case…! He got kicked outta the marines for beatin’ his sergeant or somebody’s ass.”
We cross Garden Grove Boulevard but he is still on me. I see the entrance ramp for the 22 Freeway coming up and wonder if he’ll follow me onto it. I veer right entering the onramp and he does the same.
Going east on the 22 he’s about two car lengths behind me. The offramp for Knott Avenue, the next exit, comes into view with a big California Highway Patrol sign near the exit marker. I envision turning into the C.H.P. station, pulling around into the back lot wondering what the outcome might be: three punk rockers with a psycho gun freak in tow.
I get off the freeway at Knott, head south, move into the middle lane and wait to turn into the California Highway Patrol station. Mr. Sweeney stares at us with a ferocious glare on his face as he continues south blazing past us.
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Photo by Simon Wijers