Chapter 9

As we were finishing up lunch a student from the office tracked me down. Was I busted already? It was a guidance counselor, Mrs. Hawkins. She had been contacted by Warner Brother’s studio, at least the people who handled their tutoring program. They had been corresponding for several months.

What she had to say surprised the heck out of me.

“They are very excited that you are going to be with them. We sent them samples of your work. They are always under pressure to show that they really teach child actors. I think they see you as a showpiece. Since you will be having one on one tutoring there will be no problem with them keeping you abreast of all your assignments and actually being able to finish up your school year on the set.”

“The tutoring group claims if they had you for a year they could complete your high school diploma. I thought they were bragging then they sent me the course syllabus and their tutor’s credentials. If you worked at it, it could be done. However, that is if you spent a year. We will be happy if they can keep you up with your class.

Having you ready for the end of the year would be a nice bonus for you but I’m afraid that it would make the rest of the year boring. The State of Ohio still requires you to spend so many days in the classroom,” Mrs. Hawkins continued.

“What if I tested out of the ninth grade while I was out there?” I asked.

“That would be different. You would have a certificate from the State of California which the State of Ohio would recognize.”

That is when I realized I had better slow down. This is one of those situations I had time to think, so I should use it. The building wasn’t on fire.

When I arrived home after school Dad was waiting for me.

“Rick, I took your civil war Colt to the gun shop. They examined it and test fired it with a reduced load. It was fine but you are never to use a full load of powder, no more than three-quarters of a load. Old steel can have impurities and steel will stress crack with age. The cracks could be internal so you would never know until the thing blew up in your hand.”

“Dad, it sounds like I should only use it to complete the uniform and never load it.”

“I would be most happy with that.”

“I can’t foresee any reason that I would ever need it loaded.”

Later in life, I would learn that you could seldom predict when you would need a weapon, and when you did you needed it right there, right now, and ready to use.

Mrs. Hernandez showed up and we talked about the latest news stories from Cuba. Castro’s, 26^th of July Movement had overthrown Batista at the first of the year. Stories were now coming out of the aftermath. We were careful not to scare Mary but it was ugly. The U.S media was surprised that Castro was letting it be known that he was a communist all along. I don’t know where they were getting their information. We had known it for months.

After dinner, I talked to my parents about my visit with the guidance counselor. After discussion, we all agreed that I should go with the flow, take as much advantage of the opportunity as I could. In the worst case, I would return home current with my classwork. Best case I would’ve passed a test in California finishing my freshman year.

During dinner, Mum and Dad informed us that they had hired a person to staff the office during the day. June Conroy would start tomorrow. She was in her early thirties, married with two children. She and her husband were new to the area from Columbus. He had just got a job as a supervisor out at DAB. Her previous work experience was as an office manager for a small real estate firm handling rental properties. She probably knew more about it than any of us.