Francisco

I too had been sad that Berkeley couldn’t come with me. I too thought that we were going to be brothers. During the drive from the orphanage the man told me that his name was Dick Palckow. We had little conversation in the car that day. He told me that he needed a subject for commercials. I thought of myself on T.V. but didn’t really think that I was fit for T.V. He was looking for a child who could advertise products, and I was the best looking child he could find. He told me the products were from a company called You want em’ You need em’. It was a company that sold many things such as office supplies, electronics, clothing, kitchen supplies, and much more.

We went to the airport next. I didn’t know where we were going at the time. All I knew was that Dick wanted me for something. At the airport I saw a plane taking off. I immediately thought about Berkeley. We had made a promise to each other to become pilots. Now there was no reason to become one. Not to me. On the air plane I still hadn’t a clue of where I was being taken to. Dick and I weren’t talking very much. As a matter of fact it seemed like he couldn’t look at me. And whenever he did he got this look on his face as if he was going to say God, stop looking at me. However, he did eventually say that. Actually, his exact words were For Christ’s sake boy stop looking at me. He didn’t yell at me; although, he did say it in frustration because I had been staring at him every five seconds.

When we landed, we took a cab to a hotel called The Fitzerburg Hotel. It was Swiss I think; either that or Polish. It was bright on the inside. So bright that it felt like a beach. I saw some people wearing sunglasses. The desk clerk spoke in an accent that I could not understand. Not just because of my half deaf ear, but because she had a deep European accent. Dick seemed to catch most of it. He would at times say Could you please repeat that. We checked into room 678 on the sixth floor. There Dick gave me a script and told me to read the whole thing. It was only three pages long. He told me to read it all day and memorize it. I asked him why. He responded by telling me not to ask stupid questions and just read and memorize it. At that moment the man had started to frighten me. He was tall and semi-suave. He looked kinda like Richard Gere, only a bit older looking. On second thought, now that I think of it, he kinda looked like William Powell, although he was Latin. He’s always had that serious 1920’s and 30’s actor look. He had black oily hair in a flattop style. He wore a dark navy blue suit with brown Oxford shoes and a fedora hat with a blue and red feather in it. The more I examined him the more I kept thinking about this girl at the orphanage named Delia Werm. Go ahead, make fun of the name.