The Way It Was and Is
Despite slippage, he is mostly his old self, enough to enthusiastically and loquaciously appreciate the full richness of his temporary new surroundings. Yesterday my sister drove them to a city Pop had not seen in 60 years. He recalled not only the way the city looked upon last inspection but practically what he was wearing on that day, down to his shoes.
Reaching his 100th birthday is Pops long goal.
But quietly, he is cradling a more realistic one. The leading hotel in my hometown is undergoing massive redevelopment, and it is scheduled to reopen a year from October. When Pop came to town 71 summers ago, he secured his first job, as a bellboy, at the hotel. I hope I am here to see it completed, he told me last week.
Pop Did It the Right Way
Fortunately for my father, his experience as a parent was happily traditional, far different from mine. He has lost one of his seven children, but the grim reapings, thankfully, have been slim.
My story is darker. As a father who has struggled, practically daily, for the past 17 years, shoveling against a mighty tide to forge meaningful relationships with his children, I have empathy this morning for Albert Vera, a gentleman who has seemed to need little compassion, until recently. Once the most popular politician in Culver City, now he is broken. Lately, the Vera family has been visited by a string of tragedies and other setbacks.
Mr. Veras dear son Junior, whom he treasures more than almost any other person on earth, is in jail.
5-Month Anniversary
Five months ago tonight in El Segundo, a little before 10 oclock, authorities allege, Albert Vera Jr., with an accomplice, busted into a water vending machine in front of a supermarket and absconded with the vending box, presumably to support a drug habit, it was said. Junior and his friend were arrested a block away from the crime scene an hour later.
To condense a labyrinthine tale, Junior has been locked up ever since.
Last month there was talk of packing the 42-year-old scion of a very handsome empire off to a state prison facility for a 90-day psychological evaluation. When that proposal fell out, the District Attorneys Office and Mr. Vera Jr.s public defender agreed to meet in court next month to pursue a slightly different strategy.
Rescued Every Time
Five consecutive months in jail, without drawing a single free breath, would have been unthinkable before March 6.
Adopting the same M.O. repeatedly, Mr. Vera Jr. had been in several warning sign-sized scrapes. But he always was extricated by his forgiving father, not to mention a Culver City police chief or two.
Culver City police and the County Sheriffs Dept. long have monitored his movements, we are told. They knew what was ahead, even if the troubled mans father couldnt.
When his son was picked up in March, his father, heart aching, refused to bite and hire another expensive lawyer. Six weeks after Mr. Vera Jr. was locked up, his prospects for daylight suddenly worsened. Seven felony counts were brought against him for allegedly breaking into an entertainment company just west of Downtown. He is facing 5 years or more in state prison, if convicted.
A Guessing Game
Juniors father probably has second-guessed himself a hundred times about turning his sons case over to a public defender.
At a time when the mid-70s father and the early-40s son should be discussing a gradual transfer of power in the Vera family holdings, they are, instead, worrying over how much longer the sons enforced absence will keep them apart.
Even more delicately, has Junior been cured?
This sad time, the familys answers are beyond their reach.
