Running out of Suspects: The Big Fire and Love...

(Continued from last time).

First, I must apologize to the 30,000+ people who have visited me over the past year on this blog from 86 countries around the world. I want you to know that I appreciate you checking in from time to time to check in on the History of the World (in the 1960's from the perspective of that little kid in Venice - Markie D - that's me)!

You are important to me and I don't want you to feel like I'm neglecting you (I have been busy with another project unrelated to this and am down to my last chapter and am trying to make the final big push to finish it off - please forgive me as I come back up for a breath of air).

This is part 3 of the big fire... Sadly the majestic old lady at 900 Harding Avenue (pictured to the right) had burned to the ground during a very turbulent time not only in history, but what was also an extremely difficult time for everyone on the short block of Harding Ave in Venice.

Venice Troop 32 managed to spread the Venice contagion around the Western part of the United States - that helped shape the future of Bill Gates. Click here for this unfortunate encounter!

 Man had just landed on the moon. The Vietnam War had escalated... rioting on colleges was practically the norm and my hippie brothers along with many others across the fruited plain had burned draft cards in protest.

Civil Rights and race riots consumed our corporate National psyche.  JFK, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy had all been assassinated.

This was a crazy time... "It was the best of times the worst of times."

All of this seem to spill over into our neighborhood. We were wigged out over the senseless murder and still grieving the loss of Bill Lennon Sr. This murder threw our tight-knit neighborhood into a tailspin of mourning, loss, fear and suspicion. The murder of the famous Lennon Sister's dad came at a time that Charles Manson and "The Family" had been out on a cultic killing spree of actress Sharon Tate and the high-profile LaBianca murders that convinced the authorities that "Americas Singing Sweethearts" might be the next target and put the entire clan under a protective detail.


Other than the heightened drama that the PTSD flashback caused by returning vet, Bobby Tripp, and the big fight on the front lawn next door to the blazing inferno - the quick action by Mr. Blaser, my dad and my brothers helped save all the Fraternity Members who had been trapped on the second floor of the house that had been engulfed in flames.

But now, it was time to find out - Who! Who was responsible for the attempted murder of at least a dozen college-aged students and was responsible for the Molotov Cocktail bombing?

I had a list of suspects whom I submitted to the Venice Fire Chief.

Poor Jimmy's nuts were still sore from being impaled on the gear shift lever of his new Schwinn Stingray and wouldn't ride me back over to the fire station. So now I was on my own to interview my top arson suspects.

Though Susie was young (as I mentioned last time), she was a prime suspect "in my book." Her older brother (not Bruce pictured here - to the left ) but her oldest Cameron had something to do with it. He ran the infamous Fraternity House and kept telling his little sister to stay away from his hallowed sanctuary of booze and "frat boys" and loose women.

Finding her sneaking in for the umpteenth time, Cameron had literally booted her off the second story balcony, but the biggest factor had to do with the time he dropped her smack dab on her head (which some say caused irreparable damage to her gray matter) either way - whether, brain damaged or not, she certainly had a motive for payback.    

I looked everything I could find out about how to make a Molotov Cocktail and there wasn't much in the World Book Encyclopedia. After interviewing Susie (I certainly couldn't disprove the rumors of her brain malfunction, but I was totally convinced that a "poor-man's hand-grenade" was definitely above her pay grade) and crossed her off my list of suspects.

Johnny Gillamonster (pictured to the right) could have done it!  He had motive and a technical expertise that was at a much more sophisticated level than Susie's.  He had been the paperboy to the fraternity house and had gotten jacked around so many times when trying to collect his paper-route money that he did indeed plan a diabolical payback. This he admitted!  Ah Ha!  I had him.

However, in my rather extensive investigation I discovered collaboration that backed up his spurious alibi of burying a pile of dog dooh-dooh which he took great pleasure in scoping off the Nargie's lawn and delicately placing the stinky, steaming, gooey pile right between the sports section and the funny pages of the huge Sunday morning edition of the LA Times.

Johnny laugh so hard in his recollection of the story that I figured it must be true and satisfied his felt need for revenge.

One by one - The Saint Mark Nuns, the Daniels, the Dahlins, the Nargies, The Manriquez, the Blasers, the Lennons, even Leeland had all come off my list for one reason or another.

I was stuck with one name - the owner who was my last suspect and the Fire Chief said that I was not allowed to "go down that road."

"Ah ha... I knew it... it was the man on the grassy knoll"  i.e. another conspiracy theory that would never be resolved.

At least I tried!  Now I had to get back to the more important things that consumed the minds of 8th grade boys which was to see if I could get one of the girls in my class to broker a relationship with the one true love of my life - Andrea.

I think the Fire Chief was glad to see that I was in love and had decided to moved on... It kept me out of his hair and restored order to the Venice Fire Station.

I can tell you this...love is not as easy as it looks on TV... especially for a 13 year old in the body of an 11-year-old... that definitely had issues in his gray matter!  

Somebody help the boy!