Best of Intentions, Chapter 4

Ben Johnson runs up the stairs and enters the U. S. Post Office on West Oneida Street in Oswego.  He spots a postal clerk waiting for his next customer.

"What can I do for ya, Mr. Johnson?"

"How much is a stamp for a letter to Mexico?"

"Mexico?"

"Yeah, I'm writing a professor there for a project I'm working on."

After searching for stamps, the postal clerk hands him two.  "This'll do ya, Mr. Johnson."

After paying for the stamps, Ben walks to a nearby counter where he places them on an envelope addressed to Rita.  He drops it into the mail chute.

Days later, Patricia, Rita's live-in maid, hands the envelope to Rita as she is sitting in her favorite chair reading the newspaper in the living room of her house in Mexico City. 

"Rita, here's a letter for you."

Rita puts the newspaper down as she curiously examines the envelope.  Her face shows surprise as she sees it is from Ben. 

"Thank you, Patricia.  I'm going to read it in my room."

Rita's bedroom is large and well decorated with hints of Mexican art and culture.  She lies on her bed reading Ben's letter.  Her expression turns to one of joy.

A couple of weeks later, Rita is sitting alone at a table for two in a busy, elegant restaurant, waiting for her brother, Miguel.  She's drinking a cocktail, trying to calm her nerves.  After some moments, Miguel arrives and joins her, kissing her cheek.

"How are you, my darling sister?"

"I'm well, and you?"

"Couldn't be better.  You're already drinking.  (to the waiter) I'll have what she's having."

Rita takes the final gulp of her drink and puts the glass down.

"(also to the waiter) Another for me as well."

"What's the matter, Rita?  This is not like you."

"I need strength.  I need a favor from you, a big favor."

"Relax.  You know I'd do anything for you."

"I want to invite my American friend, Ben Johnson, for Christmas.  And I need you to be there...with a guest, perhaps your American girlfriend...to insure the proprieties."

"Are you crazy?  If you want a man, there are plenty of suitable ones here I can introduce you to."

"Like Eduardo?  He was the worst."

"OK.  So I've introduced you to some fools, but to choose an American...you know what they think of us."

"Not all.  I think he's different.  And I want to know him better.  Please do this for me."

Miguel hesitates.  "OK, my sister.  I can never say no to you.  I love you very much."

"Thank you, Miguel."

The drinks arrive and the two siblings smile broadly at each other.  They take their drinks in hand and make a toast.  At a nearby table, Jon, from U.S. Army Intelligence, sits with another man, a Mexican.  They speak in muffled tones so as not to be overheard.

"Can you confirm this information about Karchevsky?" asked Jon.

"Yes.  My friend on the inside is very reliable.  I trust him completely.  He's seen a lot."

"You better be right because this is going up the ladder.  Certain people need to know what's going on.  This could be big."

   

Ian McEwan

Ian McEwan, the writer, was born in England in 1948.  As his father was an officer in the British Army, Ian spent his early life in places such as Singapore, Germany, and Libya.  He returned to England when he was twelve years-old.  McEwan earned a Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Sussex.  He also earned a Master’s Degree in creative writing. 

Ian McEwan first published a collection of short stories in 1975.  He started writing novels in 1978.  In 2001, I first became acquainted with his work when I read the acclaimed novel, Atonement.  After reading it, I developed a thirst for more of his work as I thoroughly enjoyed his sophisticated style and manner of story-telling.  I have since read other books of his including  On Chesil Beach, Saturday, The Comfort of Strangers, Black Dogs, First Love, Last Rights, Amsterdam and Sweet Tooth.   

While browsing in a book store here in São Paulo earlier this year, I came across McEwan’s recent novel, The Children Act.  After I finished reading it while on vacation in Guaruja, I did something I had never done before.  I immediately re-read it.  It had such an intoxicating effect on me that I almost couldn’t give it up.

It is the story of a middle-aged English woman, Fiona May, a High Court Judge in London who specializes in Family Law.  While continuing to deal with her caseload, which usually involves children’s issues, she is also undergoing a personal crisis, the possible dissolution of her long-term childless marriage. 

Fiona’s latest case concerns a 17 year-old boy who refuses a life-saving blood transfusion for leukemia because of his religious convictions.  How should she decide?  What is in the best interest of the boy?  Does he have freedom of religion?  Can someone refuse medical treatment?  And what will happen to her marriage?  McEwan will keep you turning those pages, spellbound by his marvelous use of the English language in telling a fascinating story.  I highly recommend The Children Act. 

Here’s a quick look at the book’s beginning for a sneak peek of McEwan’s writing style:

“London.  Trinity term one week old.  Implacable June weather.  Fiona May, a High Court judge, at home on Sunday evening, supine on a chaise longue, staring past her stockinged feet towards the end of the room, towards a partial view of recessed bookshelves by the fireplace and, to one side, a tall window, a tiny Renoir lithograph of a bather, bought by her thirty years ago for fifty pounds.  Probably a fake.”

In 2017, McEwan wrote the screenplay for the movie version of his story.  It starred Emma Thompson (Fiona), Stanley Tucci (her husband) and Fionn Whitehead (the boy).

 

 

John Brown

My first introduction to the historical figure, John Brown, was from the 1940 Hollywood western, Santa Fe Trail, directed by Michael Curtiz, screenplay written by Robert Buckner, and which starred Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Raymond Massey (as Brown), and Ronald Reagan (yes, the future president of the United States).  John Brown, as portrayed by Massey, as directed by Curtiz, and as written by Buckner, comes across on the silver screen (and on my TV set) as a ruthless lunatic.  I do not recommend doing your historical research by watching a Hollywood movie.  Beware of the statement, “based on a true story.”  Is that 90% true or only 10%.

John Brown (a white man) was born in Connecticut in 1800.  In 1837, as a result of the murder of Elijah Lovejoy, a minister, journalist, and  abolitionist by a pro-slavery mob in Alton, Illinois, Brown vowed, “Here, before God, in the presence of these witnesses, from this time, I consecrate my life to the destruction of slavery.”  In 1846, he moved to Springfield, Massachusetts and became deeply involved in the abolitionist movement there.  In 1847, Brown met with Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, who became a social reformer, writer, orator, abolitionist and friend of Abraham Lincoln.  In 1850, in response to the federal Fugitive Slave Act (permitted southern slave owners to travel to northern states, where slavery was illegal, to find, capture and return runaway slaves to their southern slave masters), Brown founded a militant group to prevent the capture of runaway slaves in his community. 

In 1854, the US Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act which enacted “popular sovereignty,” mandating the residents of those territories to determine whether they would come into the Union as free or slave states.  This led to violent clashes in Kansas between pro-slavery groups and anti-slavery “free soil” forces.  In 1855, believing that his adult sons in Kansas needed his help, Brown moved there to confront pro-slavery gangs.  In 1856, those who supported slavery “began a campaign to seize Kansas on their own terms.” 

“Sometime after 10:00 PM on May 24, 1856, members of Brown’s militant group took five pro-slavery settlers from their cabins on Pottawatomie Creek, Kansas and hacked them to death with broadswords.”  This was in retaliation for some eight killings attributed to pro-slavery elements in the previous two years.  Later, a Missouri (slave state) group destroyed the Brown homestead and then sacked the city of Lawrence, Kansas.  One of Brown’s son was murdered near Osawatomie.  Also, near there, Brown and his supporters, although outnumbered, engaged in a fierce battle with a Missouri group which earned Brown a positive reputation with Abolitionists.  Events such as these are known today as “Bloody Kansas.”  Eventually, Kansas entered the Union as a free state.

By the end of 1856, Brown headed east and spent the next two years raising funds for his abolitionist cause.  By 1859, Brown started planning for an attack on slave owners.  He collaborated with Harriet Tubman (who will be on the $20 bill in the future), a former slave who assisted others to escape slavery via the “Underground Railroad.”  In order to secure guns and ammunition for the attack, Brown planned to break into the federal armory at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia. 

On October 16, 1859, 157 years ago today, John Brown and 18 of his men easily captured the armory which contained 100,000 muskets and rifles with which he planned to arm local slaves.  The plan was to then head south freeing slaves as they went and arming them for attacks that would hopefully completely destroy slavery.  However, soon after Brown’s attack began, local townspeople pinned his group down with gunfire preventing them from escaping with their loot.  Two days later, a company of United States Marines, commanded by Col. Robert E. Lee, ended the battle, capturing Brown alive. 

Brown was tried in a Virginia state court on charges of treason, murder, and conspiring with slaves to rebel.  He was convicted on all counts and was sentenced to hang.  On the day of his execution, Brown wrote, “I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.”  He was correct.

“The raid on Harpers Ferry is generally thought to have done much to set the nation on a course toward civil war.”  Slave owners, fearing more such from Abolitionists, started upgrading their state militias, which eventually became the Confederate Army.  Northern Abolitionists saw Brown as a martyr to their cause.

In regard to the movie, Sante Fe Trail, the producers, Warner Bros. Pictures,

“express(ed) a desire to reconcile the nation's dispute over slavery which brought about the American Civil War and appeal to moviegoers in both the southern and northern United States. The American Civil War and abolition of slavery (were) presented (in the film) as an unnecessary tragedy caused by an anarchic madman (Brown).”

After my initial impression of him from the above movie, I did more research and I now see John Brown as a man who fought for a great cause (the end of slavery), but who sought to take the law into his own hands in support of that cause, which can never be acceptable.  However, he wasn’t mad.  John Brown was angry.                             

John Lennon

Seventy-six years ago today, on October 9, 1940, John Lennon was born into a working-class family in Liverpool, England.  In 1956, he formed a band called The Quarrymen, named after his high school.  In the following year, Lennon met another young musician, Paul McCartney, whom he invited to join his band.  When he was eighteen, Lennon wrote his first song, Hello Little Girl, which would become a hit song five years later.  

 

Hello little girl Hello little girl
Hello little girl

When I see you everyday
I say, "Mm mm hello little girl"
When you're passing on your way
I say, "Mm mm hello little girl"
When I see you passing by
I cry, "Mm mm hello little girl"
When I try to catch your eye
I cry, "Mm mm hello little girl"

I send you flowers but you don't care
You never seem to see me standing there
I often wonder what you're thinking of
I hope it's me and love love love

So I hope there'll come a day
When you'll say, "Mm you're my little girl"

It's not the first time that it's happened to me,
It's been a long lonely time
And it's funny funny to see that I'm about to lose my mind mind mind

So I hope there'll come a day
When you say, "Mm mm
You're my little girl, mm mm mm
You're my little girl, mm mm mm"
You're my little girl, oh yeah
You're my little girl Do do do do do   

 

McCartney suggested a teenage boy named George Harrison be the lead guitarist of their group.  In 1960, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and a bassist named Stuart Sutcliffe formed a new band they called The Beatles (because the name, except for the a, refers to an insect, which they liked, but also because in French it would sound cool).  In August of that year, the band arranged for an extensive gig in Hamburg, Germany, but needed a drummer.  They invited Peter Best to join them.  The Beatles returned to Hamburg in April of 1961 and again in April of 1962.  Eventually, Sutcliffe quit the band and another drummer, Ringo Starr, replaced Best.  The band's first single, Love Me Do, written by Lennon and McCartney, was released in October of 1962 and reached 17th on the British charts.  I remember hearing it as a senior in high school. 

Love, love me do
You know I love you
I'll always be true
So please, love me do
Whoa, love me do

Love, love me do
You know I love you
I'll always be true
So please, love me do
Whoa, love me do

Someone to love
Somebody new
Someone to love
Someone like you

Love, love me do
You know I love you
I'll always be true
So please, love me do
Whoa, love me do

Love, love me do
You know I love you
I'll always be true
So please, love me do
Whoa, love me do
Yeah, love me do
Whoa, oh, love me do

 In 1963, The Beatles enjoyed great commercial success with many concerts and tours in Great Britain and in Europe.  In February 1964, they came to America amidst tremendous enthusiasm, especially because of their hit song, I Want to Hold Your Hand, which sold 1,500,000 copies in under three weeks just prior to their arrival at JFK Airport in New York.  It was also written by Lennon and McCartney. 

 

Oh yeah, I'll tell you something

I think you'll understand

When I'll say that something

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

 

Oh please, say to me

You'll let me be your man

And please, say to me

You'll let me hold your hand

I'll let me hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

And when I touch you I feel happy

Inside

It's such a feeling that my love

I can't hide

I can't hide

I can't hide

Yeah, you've got that something

I think you'll understand

When I'll say that something

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

And when I touch you I feel happy

Inside

It's such a feeling that my love

I can't hide

I can't hide

I can't hide

 

Yeah, you've got that something

I think you'll understand

When I'll feel that something

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

I wanna hold your hand

 

On Sunday night, February 9, 1964, The Beatles performed live on American TV on the popular Ed Sullivan Show, in front of an estimated audience of 73 million people.  "Never before had so many viewers tuned-in to a live television program."  The group also performed in Washington, D.C. and Miami Beach before returning home to England.  The trip cemented The Beatles as an international phenomenon.  Their hit songs would include Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, Help, Yesterday, and All You Need is Love.    

 

The Beatles returned to the USA for a month-long tour in August of 1964, performing at thirty concerts in cities from San Francisco to New York.  They returned to the USA again in August of 1965 and in August of 1966.      

 

Beginning in 1967, The Beatles stopped touring and instead worked on developing more songs and albums in their studio in England.  In September of 1969, Lennon left The Beatles, which led to the band being disbanded.  The following year, he started working as a solo artist.  My favorite song of Lennon's, Imagine, was published in 1971.    

 

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today... Aha-ah...
 

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion, too

Imagine all the people
Living life in peace... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

 

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world... You...

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

 

In 1975, Lennon, now living in New York City, temporarily retired as a musician-singer-composer to take care of his new-born son, Sean, which he did for five years.  In October of 1980, he ended his retirement with the publication of a new single and a new album. 

 

Very sadly and tragically, John Lennon was murdered by a lone gunman on the night of December 8, 1980 as he was returning to his apartment at the Dakota in New York City.  He was only 40 years-old.  Lennon and his music will be remembered forever.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Witness

The 1985 film, Witness, which was directed by Peter Weir and which starred Harrison Ford,  Kelly McGillis and Danny Glover, won two Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing.  It was also nominated for six other Academy Awards including Best Picture (won by Out of Africa), Best Director (won by Sydney Pollack for Out of Africa), and Best Actor (Ford lost to William Hurt in Kiss of the Spider Woman). 

Witness is the story of a Philadelphia Police Detective, John Book (Ford), who is assigned to investigate the murder of an undercover police officer at its 30th Street (train) Station, a place I personally knew well as it is nearby the campus of the University of Pennsylvania.  The only witness to the murder is an eight year-old Amish boy, Samuel, who was there on a stopover while travelling with his young, widowed mother, Rachel (McGillis).  Later, Samuel sees a photo and tells Book that a fellow Philadelphia Police Detective, McFee (Glover), was one of the murderers.  Later, McFee tries to silence Book in an ambush in a parking garage.  Book escapes, but is badly wounded.  He then flees in a borrowed car with Rachel and Samuel, returning them safely to their Amish community.  Rachel and her father-in-law slowly nurse Book back to health, despite their Amish displeasure at having a man with a gun in their home.  As he recovers, Book and Rachel develop a romantic relationship.

Witness reminds me of John Wayne’s 1947 western film, Angel and the Bad Man, which also starred Gail Russell.  It is the story of a notorious gunman, Quirt Evans (Wayne), who, while injured after an altercation with a rival’s gang, attempts to flee but collapses while crossing a Quaker farm on horseback.  The farming family, despite their Quaker objections to having a man with a gun in their home, plus a local doctor, nurse Quirt back to health.  As he recovers, Quirt and Penelope (Russell), the family's daughter, develop a romantic relationship.  Sound familiar?

After a final confrontation in which the bad guys are killed and/or captured, Book and Rachel realize that their relationship, while passionate, has no where to go since they are from two different worlds.  He returns alone to Philadelphia.  On the other hand, in a similar confrontation in which the bad guys are killed by a lawman, Quirt (who gives up his gun) and Penelope go off together ostensibly to live the peaceful life of Quaker farmers.  Perhaps that was too unrealistic an ending for a 1985 movie audience.  However, it worked in 1947.  Or maybe we are simply seeing a different perspective on romance, one with a happy ending, the other one sad.