CALIFORNIA! Finally

I remember a few trips back to Calhoun while Gramma was sick. Mother went by herself once or twice. I remember seeing her in the hospital. I so wish I hadn't. My first experience with losing a loved one was not pleasant. She was shrunken. Almost skin and veins, not much hair. I couldn't equate that body with Miss Forrest. It had none of her dignity. I missed her and she wasn't even gone yet.

Soon though, we got the call from Uncle Ham. Those middle of the night calls, you know it is bad. "Snooks", he said when mom answered the phone, "your mama is gone. You need to get home. I will meet you at the train or you and Murph find a flight and I will pick you up. Snooks, we lost her. What will we do?"

It was decided that brother and I would not go to the funeral. I don't think mother could handle death and children. I wish now I had been there. Seen that little church full of people who loved her. But it was not to be. I worried about Grand dad. I couldn't even picture him alone in Gramma's house.

I didn't know then that widowers in a small town are the most popular people on earth.

The next big vacation just for fun was going to include CALIFORNIA. Southern California. San Diego to be exact. That is close to L.A., Hollywood and Disneyland. Oh yes, the dream vacation!

My dad's youngest brother lived in San Diego. He was the County Coroner. Yeah, my family and dead people. Weird, isn't it? The plan was to drive to Tucson and spend the night with my mother's college roommate and her family on their ranch. YUCK. This must have been day two of the trip. Although my dad was always mileage obsessed I don't think he would drive all the way to Tuscon in one day.

However, day two I started my whine about NOT wanting to have to hang out with mom and dad's friends on a stupid ranch. We were going to have dinner there. I was convinced dinner would be nothing but foods I hated, that was most things. That the ranch would be lame and stupid and what kind of name is Lefty anyway. That was Betty's husband's name, Lefty. I was thinking mobster or killer. Dad said basically, "shut up. This is what we are doing."

We got to Tucson and had to find a pay phone, call Betty and Lefty, tell them we were there and get directions to the ranch. Mercy, this was going to be some tin lean to in the desert that they call a ranch because they have a cow. We got directions to where they would meet us and lead us to their ranch. They were obviously killers, luring us out to the desert so we would never be found. Thank God our house was really clean. I couldn't believe my mother was not freaking out. She was excited.

We met Betty and Lefty at some fork in the road. We followed them forever through scrub brush and huge rocks that rose from the desert floor. Buzzards circled in the sky, the only sign of life and, of course, death. Yeah, this was going to be so boring and nasty.

Finally, we got to a gate. A very large gate. It had some words in Spanish Across the top in scrolled metal. WOW. Then we were on the driveway. A mile or so to the house. All I saw was a huge freestanding rock. Then I realized the house was there on the rock. Built up on brick arches. HUGE windows faced three directions. The house was amazing and HUGE. I was now a bit more interested in being in this palace.

We parked the car and walked up lots of steps. Then in the door. Seems like there were more steps and then THE ROOM. I had never seen anything like it. It was huge, I can't even describe how big. It was the living area. The kitchen was in the  middle of the space. There were cabinets on the floor and an awning like effect over the kitchen to define it but not obstruct the view. The view went on forever. All glass, floor to ceiling on three sides. The interior wall was the rock. Carved, wired, lighted, full of books, television, stereo, stuff. It was unbelievable.

There were seating areas, like a lobby. Soft overstuffed everything. It was like something from a movie. Design like you dream about but can't imagine standing in. WHOA, I was blown away. I wanted to be adopted. There was some polite adult conversation. I think mom and dad were trying not to look stunned. I couldn't help myself. I had my mouth open every time I moved my eyes. These guys were rich. Filthy, stinking, rolling in it rich. Had to be. Lefty. Whatever, I didn't care if we were slaughtered and buried at this point.

Betty asked if we wanted a tour of the house. DUH. They had twin sons who were spending the night out on the ranch with the hands. OK. Brother and I could share their room and bath. WHAT? They have their own attached bath. So moving in. Or we could sleep on one of the sofas. Can we do both?

Fabulous guest room and bath for mom and dad. The rock making the interior wall. Then the master bedroom and bath. The bedroom was bigger than any bedroom I could imagine. Huge furniture, huge wardrobes, no closets. It was wow. The windows, no curtains in the house at all, had a view of earth.

The master bathroom had a huge sunken tub. The rock came into the tub and a waterfall trickled down the rock and operated with a faucet.....oh, please, don't you want a daughter? Also in the bathroom, one of Al Capone's slot machines from Chicago in the 20s. Uh huh. Mafia Princess. I could do that, maybe. Maybe Lefty was just a mafia book keeper. Not a killer or order-er of hits.

Dinner time. I was right about that. Yucky meatloaf and spinach and thank heaven potatoes. Dessert filled me up, no problem. At dusk we all went out to sit on the narrow deck that faced west to watch the sunset. OK, I can do that. The we each got a bowl of peanuts in the shell. The cats were coming. CATS? Pumas? Bobcats? NO. Ring tail cats is what they called them. I have no idea what they were but they looked like lemurs. They would parade on the railing of the deck and pause. Take a peanut then move on. There were families of them. That was all we needed for entertainment. That and the stars. I had no idea there were that many stars in all the galaxy much less just right there, on this fabulous ranch. In a palace. This was my idea of outdoor living.

Brother and I slept on sofas, at least I did. I have no idea what he did really. I looked at the stars until I couldn't keep my eyes open. We were leaving early in the morning.

Next stop San Diego. OH, I had talked and talked about all the things I wanted to see and do in CALIFORNIA! All in and around L.A. My mom and dad were very non committal. I was expecting a real tour of all things cool and Hollywood and Disneyland related. San Diego, that was probably OK, but the action was in L.A. I was going there.

First I had to meet Aunt Ruth and Uncle Max. They had not been to a Murphy family reunion when I was there that I remembered. Maybe Max once, but I don't really know. They were strangers to me. He, being a coroner, I expected to be a little creepy. She was not welcome by my Grandmother Murphy in Utah. This should be interesting.

Interesting doesn't even come close.