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Love and hate, part 2
AUTHOR'S NOTES This is the second part of my story. The first part is of course "Love and hate, part 1" §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Chapter 7: Me and Laura Barnes. Laura Barnes was the party girl among us nymphs, and as the years went by, I would get along worse and worse with her. In the beginning of our career, when she was thirteen years old, and when I was twelve, she was just like any girl at that age. But no more than a year or so later, something started happening to Laura, we never really found out what it was, but from that time, she just couldn’t get enough of what she thought was fun. But fun for her turned out to be having sex with as many men as possible and trying out as many drugs as possible, and I could never see the temptation in living such a life. When Laura was seventeen years old and I was sixteen years old, we others nymphs used to say with concern, that Laura now seemed to change her boyfriends as often as she changed her underwear. I couldn’t understand how she could want to have one guy after the other like that! For me, it was one guy or no guy, everything or nothing! I sure couldn’t see the good thing in trying what one guy was like in bed one night just to do the same thing with another guy the next day. Michael was so the one for me, and if I hadn’t gotten him, I might not have had anyone. But I couldn’t see how being single would be any worse than being promiscuous. No, it could only be better! Laura also always smoked her cigarettes now, and I can’t stand the smell of tobacco smoke, and I would even less ever suck it into my own lungs deliberately. I have even always forbidden all my employees to smoke next to me. But Laura not only wanted to smoke, but she could also suddenly turn on a cigarette and then just start smoking, when we were in a room together. It was more accepted to smoke indoors back then in the 70s than what is now, and no one else seemed to care, but I couldn’t stand the smell of the smoke and almost started choking. - But please, I said angrily. Can’t you go out and smoke somewhere else? But Laura just laughed at me and continued her smoke, and I had to leave the room before I could breathe again. And it happened time after time, as if she thought it was funny to make me have to run out of the run to breathe. Oh yes, I actually think, that Laura really enjoyed teasing me in this cruel way! She just couldn’t stand my purity. Laura also drank an insane lot of alcohol, and I think she also tried every other kind of drugs, that she could find, since she almost always seemed to be high on something. Laura was supposed to be one of my friends, even though she always had been my least best friend in our quintet, but I couldn’t understand anything about her anymore. With my conviction to stay true to one guy at a time and to never use any drugs, I sort of became an anti-Laura, and Laura and I actually started arguing because we had such different views of life. That really wasn’t fun at all, I didn’t want to argue with any of the other nymphs, ever, but Laura and I couldn’t get along anymore. One consequence of Laura being my least favorite of the other nymphs was that I never talked about any personal emotional stuff with her. While I could talk about such things with any the other nymphs, and while I even could talk to Bridget about a lot, I could not confide in Laura. So even though Laura sure knew about my relationship with Michael, I never expected her to know any details. But she knew more than what I had her expected her to, and I didn’t find out about that in a nice way. But I have to admit, that all of this was somewhat my own fault too. I shouldn’t have provoked her like that! But then, she still didn’t have to bring it up! Couldn’t she have understood, that I would react like that, when she said it in that way? Didn’t she have more empathy than that? Couldn’t she ever understand, that all guys weren’t one-night-stands? It started one day in April 1974, when we, the nymphs, were all just sitting together in a room over at our studio. Laura was bragging about how many guys she had had and how high she had gotten through different drugs. - And it was all so fun too, she finally said. - But seriously, I suddenly said. Can it really be fun to sleep around and do all those drugs? - It wouldn’t be fun for you of course, Laura said with a vicious smile on her face. But then, fun for you seems to be spending every day comforting a guy, who still never will stop thinking he’s ugly! Oh my God, what a waste of a life that must be! And Carole, Luna and Susy all just starred at both at me and at Laura, affraid of what could possibly happen next. I had never expected hearing the terrible truth being said in such a mean way, at least not from another nymph! And Laura had also said, that me comforting Michael, which I spent a lot of time doing back then, was nothing but a waste of time! How could she possibly think that? How could Laura just think, that everything with a boy, that wasn’t pure fun, was a waste of time? But obviously, that was what she thought, since she did live like she did. But could she really think, that I would want to hear her say such a thing? And could she think, that people saying such things about him would help Michael one single bit? And before I knew what I was doing in a sudden anger, that started burning inside of me, I had actually thrown myself over Laura and started scratching her all over her face and her shoulders and her neck with my fingernails. When Carole, Luna and Susy finally had managed to pull me away from Laura, she just looked nothing but terrible. She was red all over her body from my scratches, and she suddenly started screaming out of both pain and shock. And then, Laura just starred at me and yelled: - What the hell is wrong with you, Leisure? Have you gone completely mad? I couldn’t answer her. I was too angry and too sad to be able to speak. Then Laura looked at herself in a mirror, and when she saw how bad she looked at that moment, she just screamed again. And then, I finally came up with just the perfect thing to tell her: - Now, Laura! Now you might know what it feels like to think you’re ugly! And then, Laura ran out of the room crying. - How did Laura know about that, I asked Carole, Luna and Susy later. I never told her about it! And then, Susy suddenly looked guilty and said: - I might have told her, Lynnie... - But why, I asked. Why did you tell her, Susy? - I didn’t think it was a big deal, Susy cried. How was I to know, that this would happen? And really, I believed Susy. She might have told Laura about something terribly emotional, that she sure wasn’t supposed to know anything about. But really, she sure hadn’t expected me and Laura to fight like that about it. Susy probably didn’t even expect her to say anything about it to me in such a mean way, or maybe, she didn’t even think, that Laura would say anything about it all. Susy had done something stupid, but I forgave her. And poor Susy also felt guilty about what had happened, so she went to Laura to talk to her about it. - Why did you say that to Lynnie, she asked Laura. Is it so impossible for you to understand, that she wouldn’t just be calm, when you said things like that? Can you find it strange, that she became angry? Why is it so hard for you to understand, that what you find a waste of time, is NOT a waste a time for Lynnie? And just because you have these problems with commiting yourself to one guy, it doesn’t mean, that Lynnie has that problem! We others have understood, that Lynnie loves Michael Solero! Is it so hard for you to understand that too? But oh no, Laura, it seems like you don’t have any feelings of your own and absolutely won’t understand anyone else’s feelings! - Why are you angry with me, Laura finally asked. Did I do anything to you, Tino? Yes, Laura always refered to us by our last names. - You weren’t supposed to say anything about that thing with Mike to Lynnie, Susy said. I wasn’t supposed to tell you about it at all, because Lynnie knew, that you would do something like this. And you sure did it too! I didn’t think you would, and you still did! Talk about breaking a trust and proving yourself to be a bad friend! You have been mean to Lynnie for a long time now, but this time, you went too far! I’m really disappointed at you, Laura, really disappointed! But life wouldn’t turn out too good for our Laura either. Her reckless behavior caught the attention of our boss. He was furious over finding out about her promiscuous and drug-addicted lifestyle, because people had started actually writing complaints about her to him in 1974. The tabloids had brought the attention of the public to how Laura actually lived her life and behaved herself. People had become affraid, that Laura could teach other teenage girls to sleep around and do drugs, and we were supposed to be nice respectable girls and live good lives. Yeah, it went down like that, but Laura didn’t change, and one day in May 1974, a big disaster happened to us. Laura took an overdose of only God knows what drug, only to later be found dead in her room. We just couldn’t believe it was true! Laura was only seventeen years old! How could she just die like that? I still was mad at her, but I still never had wanted to die at such a young age! Carole, Susy, Luna and I were devastated, because our group had been destroyed in an instant! Even Michael and Marlon were shocked about Laura’s premature death, since they also knew her pretty well after all the classes they had had with her. I even almost, almost felt guilty for scratching her like that now, but really, I only had to think about my lovely Michael to remember why I did it. Laura wasn’t supposed to say it like that! Never, ever! But we other nymphs couldn’t stop being worried now. Could the rest of us even continue doing our music now, just the four of us? Wouldn’t the scandal of Laura dying because of an overdose make the rest of us look bad too? And we sure weren’t five nymphs no more either, so we would also have to change our name, if we ever were to have a career together again. §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Chapter 8: Luna Squarr and Jovonnie And if this wasn’t enough, another tragedy would soon enter our lives. Laura’s death didn’t stop me from doing solo albums, but as a group, we had to wait with recording together until we knew what to do. But during the last few months before Laura practically killed herself, during the spring of 1974, we discovered, that something was different about Luna. She seemed sad all the time, and she didn’t even snap at Carole anymore. Something had happened to her, we all understood that, but I still couldn‘t connect it to hearing her scream and seeing her running out of Joseph’s hotel room that once back in January. I hadn’t asked her about it, and I hadn’t told anybody about it, and soon, I had forgotten about it. And when Luna was starting to act weirder and weirder, that incident had ended up so far in the back of my head, that not even this strange behavior from Luna made me recall it again. But I would end up wishing, that I hadn’t kept it to myself, that I would have told someone about it, that I would have at least talked to Luna about it earlier, and that I wouldn’t have forgotten about it. Why didn’t I talk with Luna about me seeing and hearing that? I still don’t understand it. I guess I just didn’t want to interfer with what wasn’t my business. Oh, how stupid wasn’t I back then? How could such a thing not be my business? In June 1974, Luna wouldn’t even come to work in the studio anymore. When she hadn’t been anywhere to be seen for days, Carole actually called her at her home, with me and Susy Tino standing beside her while she was talking on the phone. - Hello, Mrs Squarr! May I talk to Luna? What? This is Carole... Carole Henderson! But please, ma’me! I have to talk to her! She hasn’t come to work for days! But... No, but we worry about her! We just want to know what’s up with her! Is she sick? But please, she’s our friend! We’re worried about her! What? No! She can’t quit! She has to come back! Hello? Hello? Looking at us with deep sadness in her eyes, just holding the receiver in her hand, Carole told us: - I can’t believe it, but Mrs Squarr hung up on me! She so didn’t want us to talk to Luna! - Why not, I asked. This is getting stranger and stranger... - Tell me about it, Carole said, putting the receiver back on the phone. And do you know the worst of all? It seems like Luna won’t come back to us! She’s gonna quit being a singer! - She can’t quit, Susy cried. We need her back! We have to stick together now after we lost Laura! - Don’t tell me, Carole said. Tell Mrs Squarr! But none of us felt like trying to get more information out of a woman, who had actually hung up on poor Carole on the phone and obviously didn’t want Luna to come back. But of course, this doesn’t mean, that we stopped missing our friend or stopped worrying about what had happened and about why she suddenly couldn’t continue singing. Weirdly enough, it ended up being Michael and Marlon, our two special Solero brothers, who revealed the terrible truth about Luna to me and Carole some weeks after that. One morning in July, Michael came to the studio looking like he had cried all night, and even Marlon looked sad. Carole, Susy and I all understood, that something terrible had happened, but Susy whispered to me and Carole: - You two go ahead and find out what’s up with the boys, and I’ll just wait for you in the recording room! This is probably not my business anyway! Poor Susy couldn’t know how much her business it was. But how could anybody think, that our boyfriends would have any information about what had happened to Luna? But we sure suspected the cause of why they were sad, and he had also ruined Luna’s life: Their terrible father. Michael used to cry very often because of all the mean things his father did to him, and something terrible had to have happened within the Solero family, or Marlon sure wouldn’t have been sad at the same time as Michael. - What’s the matter, I cried. What has happened? Michael just couldn’t answer me, he was crying too hard, and Marlon only shook his head and said: - You don’t wanna know that, girls... You simply don’t wanna know! Trust me! But Carole wouldn’t let them keep whatever it was a secret and said: - Oh yes, Marlon, we do wanna know! Please tell us! - It’s about Luna, Michael managed to say through his intense sobs. We’ve found out why Luna can’t come to work anymore... - What is it then, I asked. What is it, that can make you cry so hard? - It’s Joseph’s fault, Marlon suddenly said. All the Solero brothers refered to him with his first name, but we immediately understood who Marlon meant. - Your dad, Carole wondered. What has he done to Luna? - Made her pregnant for a start, Marlon answered. Carole and I couldn’t believe what we heard! We had to have misheard! It couldn’t be true! It didn’t make sense! How could that have happened? - Excuse me, I said. But Marlon... I just thought you said, that your father has made Luna pregnant? My poor Michael started crying even harder than before, and Marlon just nodded. Not even he wanted to say such a terrible thing twice, but he sure didn’t have to either. We understood too well, that this was the truth. At first, Carole and I just looked at each other in huge disbelief. But then, finally, after all these months, the memory of the poor Luna screaming and running out of Josephs’s hotel room crying that evening came back to me. - But how did that happen, Carole then asked. He’s like thirty years older than her! Why would she want to sleep with him? - That would be strange, Marlon said. But it doesn’t seem like it was her choice either! Or at least, that’s not what her parents say... It’s terrible, girls! But the Squarrs say, that our father has raped their daughter! And Marlon had hardly told us the complete disgusting truth before Michael looked as if he was going to faint. He had to sit down in a chair and just look terribly sad. Carole and I were now totally creeped out! Not even our father-in-law could have done that! Yes, Joseph had done many foul things, Carole and I knew that only too well, no one knew more about what he did to his sons than we, but could he actually also have raped one of our friends? The memory of the poor Luna screaming and running out from Joseph’s hotel room crying now suddenly was as clear to me as if it had happened the only evening before, but I still couldn’t believe what I had just heard! But still, it was true! I had wittnessed the whole thing, and really, what sons would say such a bad thing about their father, if it wasn’t completely true? But I now immediately had to comfort Michael, and Carole threw herself at Marlon, crying harder than what I have seen her crying before or after that day. And everything looked like utter chaos, when Susy Tino suddenly turned up to see us. - Now really, she said. What has happened? Has someone died or something? - It’s the other way around, I said. Someone is going to be born! Of course, poor Susy couldn’t understand what I meant. - What, she asked. Who’s going to be born? - Poor Luna, Carole managed to say, but she couldn’t say any more through her sobs. - What about Luna, Susy asked. Have you guys found out about why she won’t come back to work? - We sure have, I said. But you hardly wanna hear it! - But I do, Susy said. Tell me, please! And somehow, we four managed to help each other with telling Susy about how poor Luna was raped by Joseph. Luna’s parents must have thought, that it somehow was our fault, that their poor daughter had been subjected to that terrible thing, that had happened to her that winter. Or maybe they thought, that we represented the show business lifestyle, that had become Luna’s big downfall. But no matter why they wanted to keep Carole, Susy and me away from Luna, it wasn’t until after all our parents and even Michael’s and Marlon’s mother Katherine had asked the Squarrs to let us to see Luna again, that we finally were allowed to visit her one day in early August. Luna was then unable to hide her pregnancy anymore, and we all wanted to cry, when we saw it. We still didn’t want to believe that she was carrying Joseph’s baby. - How did it happen, I asked Luna. Why were you in his hotel room in the first place? - I couldn’t have expected this, Luna answered. He just asked me to follow him into his room, and I was stupid enough to not be affraid of him. But how was I supposed to think, that a married man in his 40s would want to do that with me? But that was what he wanted! He wanted me to sleep with him! And when I said no... I didn’t make her end that sentence. We all understood what had happened next. Joseph had raped our friend, raped a teenage girl... He wouldn’t take no for an answer, not even from a teenager thirty years younger than him! We knew, that Luna was pretty. She had an Asian father, who was an immigrant like my mother’s parents, but her mother was an Afro-American and born here in America, and the mix between the two races made her so beautiful, beautiful enough to make a grown man interested in her... In the fall of 1974, Luna Squarr gave birth to a baby girl, who was named Jovonnie, and the scandal for the Solero family was nothing but enormous. Luna’s parents were of course furious over what had happened to their daughter, not to mention that they had gotten a little granddaughter, who had no legal father. And the Squarrs weren’t affraid to make Joseph Solero suffer for what he had done either. They told him, that he would have to pay child support for Jovonnie, or they would make sure, that he ended up in prison for raping Luna, who even still was a minor. But of course, Joseph didn’t want to start taking any kind of responsibility for what he had done. He has never done that before, and he sure wouldn’t start then. He just said: - Who has said, that the girl is my daughter? I don’t know anything about Luna, and she could have had many other men around that time except me! And I sure didn’t rape her either! She wanted to sleep with me! When I heard that, I realised, that I had to do something! I had already heard a lot of terrible things in my sixteen years long life, but Joseph saying, that this teenage girl, who even was our friend, who we used to know, would have wanted to sleep with him, that sure took the cake! So Carole and I actually met the Squarr family’s lawyer. I told their lawyer about what I had seen and heard that night back in January, and both Carole and I told him, that Luna hadn’t had any boyfriend at the time, so no one else could be Jovonnie’s father either. And Joseph Solero was practically already our father-in-law! Why would we be saying things like that, if they weren’t absolutely true? How would us lying about this make any sense at all? Why would I and Carole help someone getting Michael’s and Marlon’s father tied down a nasty crime, if it wasn’t the awful truth? It could hardly have been more credible if Michael and Marlon themselves had said this! We just wanted Joseph to take some responsibility for his actions. Joseph got very angry with us, of course, and he almost made his sons stop seeing us. And not even our poor mother-in-law Katherine liked what we had done. I guess she wanted to forget about this foul thing ever happening, and us making Joseph pay child support to Luna would remind her of it. Even Michael and Marlon weren’t that happy with what we had done, they sure didn’t want to be reminded either, of course, but they also understood, that we had to do this for Luna, no matter if her rapist was their father or not. So the Solero family had to start paying some money to the Squarr family, and I don’t think any of his children had anything positive to think about Joseph after all this! I could feel nothing but disgust over Joseph, and I could feel nothing but pity for our Luna and the baby Jovonnie. If I had disliked Joseph before, I now hated him just as much as I loved his son. I wanted to stay with Michael, but even though all the racial problems didn’t make me wonder about how I would be able to spend my life with him, his disgusting father did make me wonder about it. Was I really supposed to live my life so close to a man, who I loathed? But no, it couldn’t be meant to be like so! I simply never wanted to see Joseph again, no matter how much I wanted to be with Michael, that was for certain. But seriously, Michael and I couldn’t be supposed to be around his parents for the rest of their lives! We would soon be grown up, and then, we sure could live together on our own somewhere. And when that day finally came, and it couldn’t be more than a few years away, I would hardly have to see his father anymore, not more than any other daughter-in-law must see her father-in-law anyway. And we had to be allowed to get married too some day! The racial laws were already under a lot of criticism then, and they had to be changed soon, so we could be wedded. I knew, that it’s not common for a sixteen-year-old girl to already long for a married life like that, but I had to do it, since that was my only comfort at the time being. And I also know, that Carole had very similar thoughts too, for just like me, she hated Joseph, but loved one of his sons. And now, our problems as a group had become bigger than ever before. Laura was dead since six months now, and Luna could never come back to our record company. Laura had been warned about actually getting fired from the group, but Luna really was fired. Or she was forced to quite by her parents, but poor Luna was never ever asked to come back. And what were we others supposed to do? Well, actually, we could only do one single thing at this critical time: Become three singing nymphs instead of five and finally release another album as a group. §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Chapter 9: When the word got out… Carole, Susy and I were allowed to visit poor Luna some times. But even though we all of course still wanted to see her occasionaly, it just made us sad, because we knew, that there was no chance, that this girl, who had an illegitimate child, would get any chance to come back into our group. It made no difference, that she had been raped. She was still an unmarried teenage mum, and she wasn’t welcome back to our company. Also this might sound ridicuolous now more than thirty years later. But back in the 70s, old views were still very common, and among those was the merciless contempt for every unmarried mother, no matter the circumstances around how she had become pregnant. No adults at our record company had the courage to show any kindness to Luna, since they feared, that some people would accuse them of approving of teenage pregnancies, if they would do that. And among the old views, which still were around then, there was also contempt for love between the races. Michael and I would soon have our 17th birthdays now, and even though we still were very young then, we sure weren’t little kids anymore, and we got more and more passionate in our love. But even though everybody close to us knew about us being a couple, it wasn’t known to the public yet. And it’s really strange too, that it wasn’t known long before it was, since we already were famous. The tabloids had found out about Laura Barnes living the destructive way she did, and that had been a big scandal! Why was it harder for them to find out things about me than about Laura? But even though I was the biggest star in our group, I was also considered as the most boring. There was nothing to say about me anymore, that hadn’t been said before. I hardly ever showed myself in public, and I sure didn’t party around like our Laura had done, so there was no crap to write about me yet either... I was just considered as the gifted goody-goody of the nymphs. But then, in the spring of 1975, someone had somehow told the tabloids the truth. Michael and I had been going out together for years, since before we became a couple, and no one had made any big deal out of it, until now... Someone had taken pictures of me and Michael together, and they were printed in magazines along with articles about us being a love couple. Well, there was no real lies in these articles, but all this still made us uncomfortable, and our parents were furious over that the media had been inconsiderate enough to expose two “kids” like this. And my racistic father-in-law Winston Lacenby started complaining over me embarassing his family, when I let everybody know about me having this black boyfriend. There was no use to explain to Winston, that I never had wanted the magazines to do this, and my mother had to deal with him blaming her for not raising me correctly. Everything was terrible. Michael and I had faced our first encounter with this kind of media as sixteen-year-olds, and even though the stories were true, they would lead to much missery for us. While many other teenagers and many kids even younger than ourselves still loved us after they found out about us, a lot of “concerned” grown-ups just started hating us. They didn’t think, that it was a good idea for their kids to listen to us anymore. A white girl and a black boy could not belong together according to their view of the world, so our music couldn’t belong in their children’s record collections either. It was terrible to hear about how some people had taken away my records from their children and destroyed them and/or thrown them into the garbage. Already before this, I sure had been known for having a hot temper and not wanting to obey people, but I had still managed to keep my reputation as a true goody-goody. But now, grown-ups could suddenly come up to me and complain at me for being with Michael. To me, their silly talk seemed like it was “Are you a retard or something, or why haven’t you noticed, that he’s black? He’s black, for God’s sake! Can’t you see, that he’s black? And yeah, just in case you didn’t notice, Lynnie Leisure, and girlie, you seem to be stupid enough to not notice, he’s black!” It was the same thing over and over from one supposedly concerned adult after the other. And after a while, I just wanted to scream! Why did all these people torment me? Oh, why couldn’t they just leave me and Michael alone? Why did our different origins matter so much to them? There was even this once, when this woman, who was a reporter from some magazine, asked me if I was a hippy. This woman had actually been allowed to do an interview with me, and she should’ve been lucky to be granted that. Because my parents usually wouldn’t give any reporter permission to interview to me, but this woman had been given a permission, and suddenly, she asked me: - Are you a hippy, Lynnie? I was deeply shocked at this question and just starred at the reporter. At that time, my Catholic church was still considerd as a really big opposite of everything left-wing, so a hippy was really the contrary of what I was. - Of course not, I answered. I’m Catholic! I don’t use any drugs at all! And I don’t sleep around! How can you ask me such a question? - Because only a hippy would ever get a black boyfriend, the reporter answered me. And then, I just ran out of the room crying tears of anger, leaving the reporter with an uncompleted interview. It was after this happened, that the COFARL, or as we actually called it some times, “the cofarl”, was founded. The Catholic church of America was really aggrivated, when they soon would hear about this reporter claiming, that any white girl had to be some hippy to even consider having a black boyfriend. My church had actually always been supportive in the battle against those old racial laws, but still being considered as a big opposite of everything too left-wing, they didn’t want to be mistaken for hippies. Something had to be done, so that people could find out, that you didn’t have to be extreme left-wing to be against the racial laws forbidding any white person in America to marry outside their race. People from my church spoke to people from other groups about what they should do. In the summer of 1975, “The conservative organisation for the abolisment of the racial laws” was founded, but the very long name was soon abbreviated into COFARL or “the cofarl”. The organisation was very ecumenical, as it consisted of members from my Catholic church, many other Christian congregations, the Mormon church, the Jehova’s wittnesses and even Jewish communities. We all wanted to abolish the racial laws without having to be mistaken for being left-wingers. It was due time to abolish those laws, but we also had to start fighting now. Even my mother joined the COFARL after a short while, even though her terrible husband hardly would let her. §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Chapter 10: It was August 29th 1975... The heat was unbearable. Yes, even after more than thirty years, I sure remember, that it was very hot on that day, at least for it almost being September. It must have been almost 100 degrees, and I was almost dying in the heat. But fortuneately, they had gotten air conditioning at Havenhurst, so it still was okay indoors. Even though their devout Jehova’s wittness mother had forbidden any celebration, all of his three oldest brothers, which would be Siggy, Tito and Jermaine, and even their oldest sister Rebbie, who also was a Jehova’s wittness, had come to Havenhurst to congratulate him on this day. But no one had dared to defy their mother so extremely, that they had brought any gifts for their golden brother. And LaToya, Marlon, Randy and Janet must have been there too, of course, although I don’t remember much too about them from that day. No, sorry, you guys, I don’t, but I think you understand, that I could only think about your brother that day, especially after what happened... Yes, I was there to celebrate him on this day too, as I had been allowed to visit him, if I didn’t bring him any gifts. As usual, I so couldn’t help feeling like I was in Heaven, when I just sat next to him like I did for hours that day. And even though the heatwave was unbearable outdoors, the extreme weather would suit what happened later on. This very special day was August 29th 1975, and it was of course also Michael’s 17th birthday. Having had my own 17th birthday just nine weeks earlier, on June 23rd to be precise, I was really glad, that it now was my Michael’s turn as well. I can hardly remember my own birthday that year, even though I think Michael visited me at Graceland, but I sure remember Michael’s. A lot of things happened that day, and really, one of them had to do with Marlon, so see, I remember him from that day anyway! But of course, it also had to do with Carole. She came to Havenhurst too after a while. Oh, I believe, that I forgot to explain to you what this “Havenhurst” is. It’s the place, where Michael lived with his parents back in the 70s, and his parents still live there. But anyway, Carole finally came there too in the afternoon, and she had come there to talk to both Marlon and me, I guess. But both Carole and I hated Havenhurst, since we knew, that Joseph Solero’s every will was law at that property. We couldn’t really feel safe there before we could end up all alone with our boyfriends somewhere. But this time, we were both there anyway, and I found out, that Carole, Marlon and even Michael had something to tell me. - We wanna tell you something, Carole told me. I really have to let you know this, Lynnie! - Carole and I have just gotten married, Marlon said.. - No way, I said. When did you do that? And why didn’t anybody tell me about it? - We just did it, Carole said. We did in secret! - It was only a few days ago, Michael said. They simply eloped the other day... - You knew about this too, I asked Michael. Am I the last one to know everything around here? - That’s not true, Michael said. You got to know it before Joseph and Katherie did! - So your parents don’t know, I wondered. - We haven’t told them about it anyway, Marlon said. - And my parents don’t know either, Carole said. - What did I tell you, Michael said. You weren’t the last to know after all, Lynnie! Far from it! We haven’t told anybody else about it before we told you now! I really felt disappointed, when I thought, that I was the last one to know about my best friend getting married. But now, I could start feeling a little better about all this. If their parents didn’t know about it yet, then maybe they hadn’t gotten around to tell me about it yet either. But I still had questions to ask them... - And you didn’t tell any of your siblings yet, I asked. - We didn’t, Marlon answered. Only Mike knew about it, and now, you know too... - And what are you gonna do now, I asked. Do you have anywhere to live together by your own? Don’t both of you still live with your parents? - We do, Carole answered. Because of course we don’t have our own place yet! But we sure are looking for one, and as soon as we find one... - Then we’re moving there, Marlon said. I guess we just wanted to be ready when that day came... Michael and I were both really surprised about Marlon and Carole just running off and getting married like that! Even though they had been dating for at least three years, this marriage had come as a total surprise to both of us. Marlon and Carole had both turned eighteen now, so they were allowed to get married, but we still hadn’t expected them to do it this fast and so by a sudden. And this whole thing actually made me sad, since Michael and I couldn’t get married like any other couple seemed to be able to. Everything just felt unfair to us. How could our different orgins matter so much to people? What was the big deal? In 1975, so many people were trying to change the laws against us whites getting married to people of other races, but it were still going slow, way too slow for my liking. But there still was hope for us. We were only seventeen years old after all, so we didn’t have to get married yet. And the laws had to be changed soon! They just had to! But for some reason, I had never really ended up talking to Michael about marriage, though it always seemed like we could talk about anything else. But he sure must have thought about it too, without ever talking to me about it. And I also think, that Marlon suddenly actually getting married to Carole made him decide to do what he did. The hours passed by, and soon, it was almost evening, and by now, Marlon and Carole had practically vanished together somewhere. Michael and I were together too. We were walking around the Havenhurst ground, and it was still really hot, even though it had been worse earlier, but this somewhat cooler weather, that had come after a really hot day, was perfect for little walks with your love. I had hardly been at Havenhurst, since I feared the place, but Michael knew about my great disgust for his father, so I didn’t have to meet Joseph much on this special day. After we had gone for this little walk around the grounds, we went into Michael’s room, where I actually could feel a lot more comfortable, even if that room belonged to his father’s property as well. And then, it started happening. It had been several years now since my Michael last had looked this unnecessarily shy and awkward around me, but now, he suddenly seemed nervous around me again. And of course, I couldn’t understand why. What was up? I thought he had stopped being shy around me by now! But I didn’t have to wonder for long, because Michael finally started talking to me again. - You know, Lynnie, it’s my birthday today... - Of course I know that, I answered. That’s why I’m here, isn’t it? - Yes, Michael said. But you know... No one has given me any gifts today... - That’s so stupid, I cried then. What’s a birthday without gifts anyway? What’s your mum thinking? Michael smiled at me and said: - It is boring to not being able celebrate your birthday, believe me! Especially when it feels like everyone else gets to celebrate their birthday! It’s terrible! But I hope, that there’s one gift, that you still can give me today... - What gift would that be, I wondered. I don’t know why I obeyed your mum on something so incredibly stupid, but I really didn’t bring you any gift for your birthday! - But didn’t you bring yourself, Michael asked. - Yes, I answered. - And that’s all I need, Michael said. Because if I only have you, I don’t need anything else! I couldn’t help getting moved by this speech, of course, because how should I have been able to not love hearing something like that from this embodiment of loveliness? But something still didn’t add up, so I asked: - But didn’t you just tell me, that you wanted me to give you a gift? - I do, Michael said. But what I hope, that you can give me here today, is a promise, not a material thing... - What promise, I asked. I hope I can keep it, Mike! - So do I, Michael said. So my dearest Lynnie... Will you marry me? And before I even could get any chance to let that sink in, so that I could believe what I had heard, so that I actually could start believing, that this thing had really happened, it had become even lovelier. My dearest beloved Michael had actually gone down on his knees, and somehow, he had also managed to produce a little box with a ring in it! No, there was no doubt about it anymore, even though I wanted to pinch my arm to see if I wasn’t only having the most wonderful dream, that I ever had in my whole life! It really was true! Michael had actually proposed to me! And he was so cute, when he did it too, that words can’t describe it! I just died! He had thought about it, he had! He wanted me to be with him forever! Yes, he really did! And this lovely guy actually wanted me and no one else! If some other guy would do this, go down on his knees and propose to me, I might have seen that as a cliché. Why act like you’re begging a girl to marry you, if you expect her to say yes anyway? That doesn’t make sense. It might look beautiful, of course, but it’s a false beauty. But this was Michael, a very talented but also shy dude, who thought he was the ugliest thing walking the Earth, and couldn’t think, that he had anything at all to offer me. It was just like he thought "Oh, Lynnie, will you please, please, please, please get married to me? I so understand, that I don’t deserve you, so I don’t expect you to say yes, of course, but I love you, and I’ll die, if you tell me no. But go ahead and say no! I know, that you don’t love me, cause how could you love me? I want you, I need you, but so you can’t want me and need me too, you can’t!" Poor Mikie! He didn’t even think, that I could want to be with him for life! Not even after everything I did for him! And I had hardly ever seen him look so nervous before, not even when he first met my dad, never! It was crazy! He could first look straight at me with those lovely eyes of his, looking sad, as if he thought, that I still could say no to him, and at other times, he couldn’t bear to look at me out of nervousy. And I myself just stared at him with my mouth wide open, looking like a fool, until I suddenly was released from my shock and just became hysterical and practically threw myself at him and screamed: - Yes, Mike, yes! Oh yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! What else could I have answered to a proposal from him? And finally, my Michael understood, that he actually had gotten a fiancée. He finally seemed to understand, that I, though I hardly was older than him, loved him so much, that I already could want to spend my life with him. §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Chapter 11: An engagement and a murder. The thing, that was the beginning of the end of “The three singing nymphs”, was that both Carole and I got pregnant in 1975 and both had babies in 1976. Carole was of course already married to Marlon by then, when it happened, but it was worse for Michael and me, as it seemed impossible for us to get officially married. Ever since, I have often been asked about how I could let myself get pregnant, when I was seventeen years old, which shouldn’t be old enough to become a good mother. The answer is very simple, really. I maybe didn’t plan to get pregnant at that young age, but I wanted to have sex, and as a catholic, I didn’t really believe in contraception, and thus, my having sex also lead to me getting pregnant. And I wasn’t sad, when I found out, that I was pregnant, and I sure didn’t think, that my life was ruined, like many teenage girls have thought in that very same situation. Because really, I rather considered me as a young white girl getting pregnant by a black boy as a mayor blow in the face of racists, who still wouldn’t let us get married. I also do think, that my mother would have been angrier with me, if I had started using contraceptive, than what she actually became, when I got pregnant by my fiancé, who she knew and liked, even if we were a bit too young, and even though we sure had the racial issues against us. But I admit, that Michael and I weren’t thinking much at the time. But who would have expected anything else? Yes, we were only seventeen years old, and yes, we had the race thing against us, but we’d already been together for a long time, and we had actually just gotten engaged. I’ve never regretted becoming pregnant so soon after we started having sex on the same day as we got engaged, (Yeah, I told you it was a special day, didn’t I?) and I don’t think I ever will. What would be the use of that? For some reason, my parents found out about my first pregnancy before Michael’s did, so Joseph and Katherine would find out about Marlon and Carole at the same day, that they found out about us. The Soleros were shocked at the news, and Marlon moved out very soon afterwards. But it was strangely enough interesting for me to see how our parents could react so differently at the same news, that Michael and I already were expecting our first baby. Both our mothers were this very pious kind of women, who could only be glad, that we at least were engaged, when we were having a baby. They reacted almost in the same way, but our fathers would react very differently. My father was also happy, that we had gotten engaged, but he made a far less deal out of it than what any of our mothers did. And Michael’s father actually acted as if he didn’t care about it, but I’ve never been sure about what he really was thinking about it, and I haven’t bothered to ask him, since I can’t be in the same room as my father-in-law long enough to have a real conversation with him. Me not being able to talk to my father-in-law made it hard for me to actually move in at Havenhurst, of course, even if I still didn’t have to meet Joseph very much. I had been looking forwards to me and Michael having our own place together, but right then, we would keep on living with our families at Graceland and Havenhurst. There are three reasons why it would become that way. One was that unmarried couples still weren’t supossed to live together on their own back then, and it would have been even less acceptable for two 17-year-olds like us. Another one was that I just couldn’t leave my little half-sister Lucy like her mother had done. Dad always was a good father, but I really felt, that Lucy needed me too. And Michael also had a hard time leaving his mother and all his siblings, even if he hardly got along better with his father than what I did. But we would both get along with my father, who even thought of Michael as the son, who he never got. He even said things like: - If Mike’s father has six sons, why can’t I borrow one of them sometimes? And I only giggled at my dad, thinking that it was so cute of him to say that. But as fantastic as it was at Graceland, it was a almost a nightmare for me to stay at Havenhurst. I so didn’t want to see Joseph, and always trying to avoid him in his own house wasn’t easy. Except of course the obvious reason for me to try living there at Havenhurst, which was being with Michael, it could be fun to be with his little brother Randy and his sisters LaToya and Janet. And my relationship with my mother-in-law Katherine also started improving. I guess she just understood, that I really was the one for Michael. But my disgust for Joseph sure made it impossible for me and Michael to live there, and soon, we would start to only go there for visits. And as if becoming a mother wasn’t enough change for my friend Carole, she now made another big decision, which however had to do with her expecting this baby. She’d never felt as talented as us other nymphs, and she had always envied all of us others, thinking that we had more talents than her. And now, when she actually was having this baby, she just decided, that she didn’t want to return to the show business after her baby had been born. I wasn’t as sure as her about what to do now. I wanted to take good care of my baby, when it came, and I thought, that I could only do that by quitting my singing career, but I still also wanted to keep on singing and performing. My mother hadn’t done much performances since she got married to my father, while he could continue his career. And did I really want that, to never make another record or performance? Neither Carole or Marlon had been the stars of their groups, so they didn’t have this problem. But I was a star just like my Michael, so it sure had to be a different situation for us. Was Michael really supposed to remain a star, while I would almost become forgotten? No, somehow, such a future just didn’t feel right for me. I felt, that I so wasn’t supposed to “only” be a star’s wife. No, I was supposed to be star myself too! Simple as that! But I also couldn’t stand the thought of leaving a baby to a nanny or to a daycare center, so what should I do now? I really didn’t have a clue about what do with my life! But I did know, that no matter what my life would bring me otherwise, I could still feel positive about the fact, that Michael didn’t only love me, but he would also love our baby, and of course, that sure made me feel better. Even though Michael seemed so confused, when I first told him about us already having a baby, that he didn’t know what to feel about all this, he ended up being more excited about his baby than what many adult fathers are, and he was certainly more thrilled about having a baby than what most 17-year-old boys would be. Michael was always worried about me and our baby. He was always worried about any of us getting ill or something like that. I kept looking at my engagement ring, that I have always worn on my left ring finger since the day I got it in 1975. It’s actually incredible, that Michael actually managed to get the kind of money, that such a ring must have costed. I have always worn a lot of jewelry, and I simply adore wearing my rings, necklaces and bracelets. But of course, I have still always been most fond of my engagegment ring and my wedding ring, since they are symbols of my love for Michael. And already back then, I loved being engaged and having a ring to prove it, since that made me feel like we already were married in God’s eyes. But in Februrary of 1976, something hapened, that’s so extremely horrrible, that I hardly even can write about it. I had almost never visited my mother at her house for the two years, when I had been living with my father instead, and this was one of the few times since that day, when I was in the same room as my stepfather Winston Lacenby. I was five months pregnant, and even though both Mum and Bridget knew about me expecting a half-black baby, we didn’t want Winston to know about that for obvious reasons. But we had an idea about how we could hide it. I wore a black dress, that was very wide, so it shouldn’t show Winston anything unncessary, and we also thought black was the color, that could hide the most of my body. And also, I have never been skinny, for no, I have rather always been fat, so no pregnancy has shown as much at me as it should have shown at a skinny woman anyway. Winston didn’t seem to notice, that it wasn’t like me to wear such a strange dress, that it shouldn’t be my style, and he really didn’t seem to notice me actually wearing an engagement ring either. He seemed to stay ignorant. But it was nothing but terrible for me to stay in the same room as my stepfather. When he and Mum first married, I sure didn’t think of Winston as my new dad, my real dad was still alive after all, but I learned to tolerate him. But now, all that tolerance was gone. I just hated him. Bridget had moved out in 1974 too and gotten married to her Freddy Atwood, but she had come for a visit too that very evening, and she brought her little baby son Jason, who had been born in 1975, so it really started out as a nice visit, and no one suspected what would happen next. But then, after Mum had finally put little Charlie to bed, my stepsister Bridget was about to leave us, and we just started saying goodbye to her. Winston, Mum and I were all standing on the stoop watching Bridget walking up to her car, that she’d parked outside the house in the drive. She was of course taking little Jason with her, and it was really cute to look at them. But then, Winston suddenly ran back into the house, came out with his gun, and then, he actually shot someone walking by out in the street. Of course, Bridget and I both screamed from the top of our lungs at this terrible sight, and Mum would sure have screamed too, like us, if she hadn’t been in such a shock. Mum, Bridget and I all ran out into the street, and we saw a black teenage boy lying there dying. - What did you do that for, Mum asked her husband with horror in her voice. Why did you shoot him? - What does it matter, Winston asked angrily. One nigger more or less in the world... This country only becomes a better place the less of them there is here... - But Winston, Mum cried. You killed him! You actually ended the life of another human being! - As if that’s a human, Winston said viciously. - Of course it is, I said. - And you just shut up, Winston told me. - Why did you kill him, Mum asked her husband again. - You wanna know that, he asked. Well, I thought it was your gal’s nigger trying to get into my house again... And I immediately understood, that he actually meant me and Michael, so I started shivering with horror and loath. My stepfather had actually been prepared to kill Michael, my fiancé! It couldn’t be true! It just couldn’t be! - How can you say such a thing, Mum asked. Michael is a nice boy, and... - “Nice boy”, Winston asked. Such people are never nice, and you know it! And now, Mum actually looked as if she hated Winston just as much as I did, and she told him: - No, I don’t know that! And I’ll tell you what else I did not know! I didn’t know, that you were a murderer! And somehow, Winston expected his family to not bring this up. He actually didn’t think, that any of us would ever tell anybody in the world about this terrible incident. But even if Bridget refused to testify against her father, both my mother and I ended up testifying against him in the court. I was of course much pregnant during this trial, and Mum was still married to this murderer, but neither of us could just let him get away with shooting this boy. We owed it to this innocent passer-by boy’s family to help them get his killer convicted for this terrible crime. And Winston eventually ended up in prison for ten years, and even though some people said, that a black man kill-ing a white boy would have gotten a harder punishment, we still got rid of him for years. And Mum soon filed for another divorce, even though divorce is against our faith. Mum is still to this day very much ashamed about having to divorce two husbands, but of course, she just couldn’t stand Winston anymore. She was also absolutely sure, that when Winston would came out from his prison one day, she wouldn’t want to have anything to do with him. The only bad thing about sending Winston to prison was leaving Charlie without a father, and for too many years, we couldn’t even tell him the terrible truth about what his father had done. Winston’s oldest son, Robert Lacenby, promised to be there for little Charlie though, and Bridget and I were also sure, that Michael and Freddy would feel some responsibility for him too. §§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§§ Chapter 12: Fighting for my son’s rights Marlon’s and Carole’s first daughter Valencia was born in May 1976, and it was actually on my 18th birthday, June 23rd 1976, that our first child was born. That morning, I was at Graceland with my father and Lucy. But Michael wasn’t there with me. He had left us at Graceland a few days before to work on something with his brothers, and I really missed him too. But really, he had promised to come to me again as soon as possible that day to celebrate my brithday with me. And even though we sure knew, that I was about to give birth very soon, and that’s why I hadn’t been able to go with Michael some days before, we still thought, that it wouldn’t happen while he was away for those few days. But very early on that morning, and then I mean several hours before Michael could have returned to Graceland, I suddenly woke up because I had these extreme pains. And it goes without saying, that it wasn’t especially hard for anybody to understand what was up with me either... We all understood, that it had to be time for my baby to be born very soon now, as I had started going into labor. I understood it all perfectly well too, I wasn’t an idiot, but I still just really didn’t want to leave Graceland yet, since I knew, that Michael was to come there very soon. And I think I became hysterical, defiantly refusing any kind of help from anybody. This couldn’t be happening! Michael had promised to be with me at this moment! But before I knew it, I was taken to the closest hospital, even though I had protested against for as long as I could. I cried because of the pains and because nothing seemed to go like I wanted. When I finally arrived at the hospital, a nurse soon helped me undress, and after, she pointed at a bed on the other side of the room and asked me: - Please lie down on that bed, Ma’me! I just had to stare at her with astonishment. I had never been called “Ma’me” before! I had maybe been “Miss”, if someone had felt the need to be polite to me, but never ever “Ma’me”. And I just had to smile at the whole thing. This nurse actually assumed, that I, who was so young, already was married, just because I was having this baby. And back then, you were still supposed to be a married woman before you actually would give birth to a baby. There were still talk about “illegitimate children” around. And since my hysteria now had turned into a shock, I just did as the nurse had told me and lied down on that bed, even though I had refused any help from anybody earlier and sure wouldn’t have done as anybody told me then. But since it was obvious, that it would take a few more hours before my baby would come, I was soon left alone. I could just hear two nurses talking about me in the room next to where I was lying down on that bed. - Her name is Gladys Evelyn Leisure... - How old is she, really? She seems very young... - She’s eighteen years old! She turns eighteen today! - Today? What? It’s her birthday? - It seems so, and yes, she’s very young... And of course, she’s also... And then, they suddenly started whispering to each other, as if they started talking about something embarressing. I had understood, that one of them was reading my files, but I didn’t understand why they started whispering yet. But I would understand later, that they had discovered, that I didn’t have a husband. But at the time, I was to much in a shock to even care about what they said now. And soon after that, my father had found me and was allowed to see me for a while, and I started feeling better, when I actually had someone, that I knew, with me there. But then, I started worrying about poor Michael again, and I asked my father: - But what about Mike, Dad? Will he even know what happened with me? - Of course he will, Dad answered. When he eventually comes to Graceland, the people there will tell him about what’s going on with you. Don’t worry, gal! He’s coming as soon as he can! And I understood, that Dad was right. Our employess at home would sure tell Michael all about what happened. They just had to! They would be so stupid if they didn’t! They had to understand how important this really was! But soon, I would get another problem, since the people, who worked at this local hospital, made an incredibly big deal out of the fact, that I wasn’t officially married yet. And back then, you were still supposed to be a married woman before you actually would give birth to a baby. Of course, I knew, that you were supposed to be married, when you had a baby. We all just learned that as children. But I still hadn’t expected to be treated like I ended up being by the people at this hospital. It was so insulting. This midwife came to me and asked me: - So you would be Miss Leisure, not Mrs Leisure? So you are not married? - Not yet, I answered. But I’m engaged. - Whatever you say, the midwife said, as if she actually didn’t believe me, like I only lied about being engaged, so that they would accept me more. I started feeling as if they actually felt contempt for me, as if unmarried mothers automatically were bad women. And I also knew, that would be no use to tell them about my baby having a black father, so we hadn’t been able to get married yet, since that also still was so controversial. But Dad stayed with me at the hospital, and when those people understood, that I was Elvis Leisure’s daughter, no doctor or nurse talked about me being an shameless unmarried mother anymore. Instead, they must have been ashamed over the fact, that they hadn’t recognized me. But as a pregnant eighteen-year-old, I didn’t look much like the little cute twelve-year-old, that I had been at the part of my life, that was the most famous at that point, and I was hardly known at all as Gladys Evelyn Leisure, which of course still was my name in the official records, which they had read, as I came into the hospital, since I was so famous as Lynnie Leisure. Mum came there too, and she would later let the personnell hear some harsh words from her about their showing me that contempt because I wasn’t legally married yet, but only engaged. And finally, Michael came! Later on, I would understand, that I hadn’t had to wait especially long for him to come to the hospital. I only come there an hour before he did. But I had been worried about him missing this, and I was really glad, when he finally came. I was glad because he actually made it to the hospital before our baby was born, and also because I had yet another loved one there now, and because I could show off a father for my baby now. Nobody from his family had come there for us though, like both my parents had managed to come there for me. But I think, that the Soleros took Michael and me already having this baby much harder than what my parents did. And my parents were also incredible, being there for me like that. It’s not common for grandparents to be around for a grandchild’s birth, and for being a divorced couple, who hadn’t talked to each other in years, they got along pretty well, when it came down to making it as good as possible for their daughter and their grandchild. I can’t be enough grateful to Mum and Dad for supporting us all. And after spending some terrible hours at that hospital, where unmarried mothers were considered trash, and it wasn’t good for white girls to have black fiancés either, even if no one actually said anything like that to me after they found out who I was, because that did shut them up, our first child, our son Prince Michael Joseph, was born. My father was known as “The King” already back then, and later, Michael became known as “The king of Pop”, so people have often thought, that that’s why our first son was named “Prince”. But actually, that’s not true at all. Our Prince was named after two of his ancestors on his father’s side. My Michael told me, that both his mother’s father and his mother’s father’s father were called Prince, and that he had wanted our son to have this name as well. Michael and I hadn’t talked much about what would call our baby. I think we just thought, that we would take care of that problem, when the baby eventually had been born. But when Michael suggested the name “Prince”, I didn’t object to it, and we gave him both of his father’s names as middle names, so he became Prince Michael Joseph. My parents simply loved their little grandson, and I loved my son too, of course, but no one in the world loved him as much as Michael did! He couldn’t get enough of him! Even if I was the one, who would take the most care of baby Prince, Michael loved being around his little son. More than anybody else, Michael loved to just sit down and look at our little Prince or just hold him in his arms. As soon as Michael was in the same room as our Prince, it was hard for anybody else to come close to the baby, because then, it was his time to spend time with his son. And when Prince became a bit older, Michael would just love to play games with him. And it would of course turn out like that for all of Prince’s six younger siblings too. As much as I was the one, who ended up taking the most care of them, their father always was the one, who played the most with them and seemed to adore them the most. Of course I love our children too, but Michael has always seen them as God’s greatest gift to him. I think, that my parental love is more like any mother’s love usually is, but Michael is such an incredibly loving father. But Prince was still born into a world, who still wouldn’t accept his white blood being mixed with any other blood. Michael and I still couldn’t get officially married because of the racial laws, and Prince was thus an illegitimate son without any right to inherit his father and his family or even have their surname. If I hadn’t fought the way I did, our son’s official name would have been Prince Michael Joseph Leisure, and not Prince Michael Joseph Solero, since he was born out of wedlock and therefor couldn’t be Michael’s legal son according the laws of our state. When I realised, that Prince would get my surname, I just freaked out, and even Dad, who had complained over not having son to carry the surname Leisure into the future, agreed with me, and he said, that my Prince was a Solero, and not a Leisure, and that he shouldn’t get our surname, as if he didn’t have a father in his life. The laws had to be changed at last, not for me and Michael, but for our son! And luckily, I wasn’t alone about wanting a better future for my biracial children, and that would help a great lot. In 1976, the old racial laws had finally reached their last expiry date. In the 70s, there were much more half-black, half-white children born than ever before since the time of slavery in the 19th century, when black slave women too often were raped by their white owners and foremen. Of course, mo one was a slave anymore in 1976, but all these biracial children automatically became illegitimate, so it was sure time for a change now. Some middle-aged couples had kids, who were as old as Michael and me, but they still weren’t marrioed because of the racial laws. But most of these fighting couples were in their twentys, and as mere teenagers, we were among the younger ones. The COFARL fought for the abolition of the racial laws, and they made it clear to people, that not only hard core liberals and ruthless communists wanted this to change. And in August of 1976, a lot of these interracial couples with mutual children were finally allowed to get married. But interracial couples without children were still unable to get lawfully married until 1978, because you needed mutual children to get that permission in1976 and 1977. Even Michael and I were finally given our permission to get married as soon as he had his eighteenth birthday on August 29th. Our wedding ceremony was very informal. We just went down to a city hall and finally got married. We were already married in God’s eyes anyway, so we didn’t need any fuss. We really just did this for our son. We didn’t wear anything special. No suit and no gown. We just started wearing wedding rings now, nothing else. Not even our families were there. We just wanted to get it over with and finally give our Prince an official name. When Michael and I could finally were lawfully married, our little son could at last be registred as Prince Michael Joseph Solero, and not as Prince Michael Joseph Leisure. He hadn’t had an official name until then, the poor boy, but now, when he was two months old, we had fixed that. My name was changed too, when I suddenly got married. I had been famous as “Lynnie Leisure”, but since 1976, for thirty years, I have been “Lynnie Solero” instead.
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