THE YOUNGER YEARS - BACKGROUND STORY TO GIRL IN THE MIST

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

PASADENA 1964...

Carla Rodriguez was a beautiful woman, Italian-American with the dark features that go with it, and she was happily married to a diplomat from Argentina that she met at an embassy party a long time ago. As the rest goes, they fell in love, got married, and had six beautiful kids...and the rest, as they say, was history. She knelt in front of her eight-year-old son, Julian, who took mostly after her and pulled a brush through his unruly hair before she straightened his tie and made sure his Sunday suit for the church was perfect. "Come on, hurry up, daddy's waiting for us in the car." They left the house and hurried to a grey Mercedes-Benz that stood idling in the driveway. His father and younger brother and sister were already in the car waiting for them. Andreas Rodriguez put the car in reverse and drove out of the driveway.

Andreas his wife and three kids were dancing, singing, and clapping their hands along with the church choir. They were singing 'Oh Happy Day' for to them it was a joyful thing to be in the presence of the Lord praising His name in the manner they did. Julian always smiled from ear to ear and couldn't wait for Sundays to arrive so he can go to church to sing and dance. Carla pulled her boy closer and put her hand on his shoulder as they were singing and dancing. They were devout Baptists and proud of it.

After Sunday church service they returned to their home in Pasadena and Carla set the table for their Sunday lunch. The entire family was there, Andreas, Carla, Julian, Michael, Natalia, and the other three older children, Kaylin, Jean, and Nicholas. They all sat down at the table and Andreas said a dinner prayer before they had their lunch. Afterward, the whole family gathered in the living room to spend some time together as a family. They were playing a board game and Julian slammed his dice down on the board. Kaylin, who was a tad older than her brother sighed. "Julian, you're cheating, I'm gonna tell dad."

"I dare you, tell him."

"You asked for it...Dad, Julian's cheating!"

"It's just a game Kaylin," Andreas said smiling.

"No, but he always does that."

"Julian, stop cheating."

"I'm not cheating dad."

SOUTH L.A. 1964...

The McLaren family was in stark contrast to the church-going Rodriguez family. There was Lewis McLaren, a baker who married his high school sweetheart, Wendy, after she got pregnant with their first son, David who was sixteen. Then there was the fourteen-year-old Liz, the middle sister, and Eugene, the youngest who was only seven years old. Wendy was sitting in the kitchen at the table with the kids having bread with jam when Lewis parked his rusty old Volkswagen Bug in the driveway. She heard the door of the car shut and waited for him to open the front door. Sure enough, it opened after a while and Lewis stumbled into the house, drunk as usual and holding a bottle of vodka covered with a brown paper bag in his hand. He walked up to the kitchen doorway and took a sip from the bottle. He looked at his wife and children, started laughing, and glared at Eugene. "Did you do your homework yet boy?"

"No daddy..." Eugene was terrified.

"No...why not? You're a pathetic mother Wendy. You can't even let the kids do their homework. All my money goes into their education, and I get home to hear they did not do their homework yet." He pulled her off the chair and threw her against the wall. The next moment he grabbed Eugene by the collar of his t-shirt and threw him onto the floor. Liz jumped up from her chair crying. "It's enough daddy, you'll kill them!"

"Shut up or you're next!"

Liz made way for the doorway but Lewis grabbed her and pinned her to the wall. "Where do you think you're going, you little bitch?" Her mother lashed out at him. "Lewis, leave her alone!" He attacked Wendy, pushed her against the wall, and gripped onto her throat so tight that she gasped for air. Eugene thought Lewis was going to kill her. The boy jerked the cutlery drawer open, grabbed a meat cleaver from inside the drawer, and lashed out to his father who was still busy choking the last bit of life from his mother, hitting him in the back. Lewis let go of his grip on her and fell to the floor, dead instantly. The shocked and terrified Eugene looked at his father's lifeless body. Wendy and his brother and sister looked at him, shocked, in return. "You...you killed daddy!" Liz exclaimed alarmed.