Chapter 27

Then a snake slithered in to my Garden of Eden. It walked like a human, talked like a human, but it was a snake of the lowest magnitude.

I hadn't laid eyes on my old friend Eric in three years. I'd get a sporadic email every once in a while. I'd always respond, update him on the family, and invite him to visit. He never came.

He dabbled in film a few more times, before giving it up. I figured he would, his penchant for getting bored quickly still in force. I'd seen two of his efforts, one was pretty good, the other just short of awful. It didn't get to the big screen, and ended up on cable. The difference was in the crews he used. Good people make all the difference. It's why I tended to lock in anyone who did excellent work. Most of the group from the first Grolar movie were still with me, even relocating to Atlanta. Oh, they'd go off and work with other people as time allowed, but our projects always got first consideration.

Eric and Savanna were still in a quasi-relationship. She had talked him into moving to LA, and their parties and escapades often made the gossip columns, and in some cases the police blotters. He mostly paid their way out of things, but occasionally money didn't help. He ended up on probation, and Savanna did a year in jail for what was essentially date rape.

Never one with a sunny outlook on life, prison, even in the camp cupcake facility Eric managed to get her into, hardened her view of life. She was enraged when she was released to find Eric had gotten into a relationship with someone else, and didn't pick her up. He sent a car service, and they took her to her new apartment. He'd paid a year in advance, and had put fifty thousand in an account for her.

Somehow, his new relationship ended, and she wormed her way back into his life. He'd been clean since she was out of his life, but three months after they were back together the parties started again.

Then one day, out of the blue, he showed up at the studio. I was in my office, going over some revisions Leah had made on one of our scripts. She and Dorian were off on a 'honeymoon', something they couldn't afford when they married. They were at our villa in Greece, and traveling around Europe. The kids were with us, having the time of their lives. We'd get emails everyday, and they seemed to be having a ball. They visited the beach we liked so much in france, and Dorian had taken a picture of Leah, from the rear. Obviously topless, the string of her thong was so tiny she looked nude. She had a cow when she saw it.

They even went to the Cannes Film Festival, as guests. My second movie about the Canadian fur trade was being shown, to really favorable reviews.

In a word, Eric looked awful. He must have gained forty pounds, apparently he'd stopped exercising. Plus, he looked bone tired. No, he looked soul tired. I got the story out of him in bits and pieces.

They'd gotten in trouble again. He didn't go into details, but it invovled the underaged daughter and son of a prominent Hollywood figure. His lawyer suggested it would be a good time to take a 'vacation' without Savanna, to let it blow over.

He stayed with us for a month. He was amazed at my home life. "How can you stand the noise?"

I had to admit, with a houseful of young children, it could be chaotic at times. Besides the wives and kids, there were always other people, the grandparents, ofiicial and unofficial, the aunts(Jose's daughters and Tory's sisters, plus the young men that always seemed to follow them around), and the many friends we had made for a pretty full homelife.

"It's not noise, Eric. It's the sound of happiness. I'm so used to it I made a recording of a Sunday dinner, to play while I work. It helps me concentrate."

He hardly drank while he was with us, a glass of wine at dinner, and a few beers when Jose, Jerry, and I took him fishing on Jerry's pontoon boat. He was fascinated with the horses, and I took him riding a few times.

He nearly fell down laughing when he saw my 'horse'. The girls and Jose got it for my birthday last year. He was huge, sixteen and a half hands, a golden Palimino color, and he was also a mule, the result of a union between a Mammoth Jack burro and a Tennessee Walking Horse.

We suited each other. He was stubborn(surprise)and often ill tempered, except with children. They could climb all over him and he'd just stand there, but if an adult he didn't know or like got close he was all teeth and hooves. He liked Jose, and tolerated the girls, but he bonded to me. He was a pleasure to ride, having a really smooth gait. I had to keep him away from the stallions, because he was pretty quick to establish the pecking order, and believe me, he wasn't on the bottom. He liked mares though, even if he couldn't do anything about it.

He was almost back to the old Eric, his color was back, and he was working out twice a day in our gym, now down twenty pounds with a lot better muscle tone. Expressing an interest in moving, Maria and Tory showed him a house in the neighborhood. Ursala and Laura were next door neighbors, Jerry and Carmella lived right down the street, Dorian and Leah a block over. He was seriously considering making an offer.

I felt good, no, I felt great about the situation. We'd never have the friendship we shared before the girls, but he was still my friend, and I felt like he was finally back.

It was a Thursday, just another day, like any other, when my world was shaken to the core. I was at my office in the studio, going over some revisions with Leah, when the phone rang. It was Maria. She'd gone up to the house looking for Eric, they were supposed to ride together and he hadn't shown. She was almost screaming.

"Tio Will! You have to come home! Now! Some black woman is at your house, screaming and ranting. She has a gun and she's threatening everyone. She didn't see me and I ran away. What should I do?"

I was already out of my chair, running for my car, Leah on my heels. "Call 911 now! And stay out of sight? Where are the kids?"

"Ursala and Laura took them all out for ice cream, remember? They've looked forward to it all week."

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were safe. "Call them, now! Tell them to take the children to their house and wait."

Sometimes it's handy to be rich and famous. I called the local Sherriff's department. Maria had already called them, and they had units on the way. Half mile down the road I picked up a cruiser, who got in front of me, lights and sirens going and set the pace. seventy or better on the straightaways. A mile from the house he cut the siren for a silent approach.