9.How did those romances end up?
Can you believe all good news? Well, almost.
For one, Jack and Sally ended up marrying in a well-attended ceremony/re-union on the Santa Monica pier. Everybody drove to Dirty Nick’s for the reception. First however, there was a quick divorce in Minnesota. She told us all, “God, he just doesn’t get it. His first words after I announced I was getting a divorce: ‘Geez, I didn’t know fishing meant that much to you’.”
For another, Steve and Jodie ended up back together. Jodie was actually overjoyed to see him, and Steve claimed profusely he was a totally changed man, putting family first for the first time in his life.
Huck, Sunshine and Peaches were planning to get together at the next Rainbow Family Gathering in the Appalachians in the summer of 2023.
Eloise and Max just stayed best friends – and he promised another road trip soon when she ran for Congress.
For the movie, Patty asked Skip how he came to fall in love with Susie, as there had been no indication on the Land Yacht that something might be stirring. “Well,” Skip said, “It’s a long story – make sure you get Susie’s version too. I liked her spirit from the moment we met her at the Chat & Chew our second day on the road. And then when she got on the bus, I started noticing how good looking she was, and athletic too. When she cracked that joke about feeling like Cinderella when we left her daughter’s farm, I checked ‘fun and a great sense of humor.’ She was checking all the boxes, but she was too into being pursued by Huck and Steve to give it any more thought.
“Then I got all wrapped in my own world – going through that dark period when I felt, every day, like I had to unload the burden of the Dodger Stadium bombing to someone, somehow – and she rescued me from that. It was gradual at first, but we talked a lot on the phone, and she was so positive about everything, so hopeful, always, ‘I know you’ll get it right, Skip’ – and I said to myself, ‘I really like this lady!’ Then, it totally took me by surprise that she was there at FBI headquarters, and when I saw her across the room, I could just tell she felt the same way about me, and my heart went ‘boom.’
Patty did ask Susie too. “What did Skip tell you,” Susie asked.
“I’ll tell you in a minute. First you tell me.”
“How could I not . . . ” Susie dove in, “. . . not fall in love with him. He’s such a leader and he gave me a chance to be a leader. No one had ever thought of me as a leader before. God, I thought he was the best-lookin’ guy on the whole planet the first day I saw him, but not somebody who would pay attention to me. Then, wow, we were so compatible every time we talked on the phone. It was maybe twenty times over that two-month period after you guys left L.A. I even got him to laugh a few times, and I thought maybe, just maybe, he liked me. Then I saw his face that day of the bombing, and I saw that he was looking at me, with a fondness, and, well, the rest is history. We just both keep smiling every time we see each other.”
Another good one – turned out Skip was right about Jane, she made it out alive and several months later got in touch with Gordy, who joined her in Mexico. Gordy later told Ken, who told Lisa, who told Max, who told Skip that Jane’s plan was to have her bomb go off before the planned time (to possibly scare Rafferty off from detonating his), ditching the car in the waste land around the water treatment plant (with no one nearby), leaving some human remains in it (which she had dug up the previous night from a Brooklyn cemetery) and just walk away, detonating the bomb once she was out of range.
Upon hearing that news, Skip didn’t even feel bad that he had piled on to Gordy’s theory misleading FBI Agent Stover into believing Jane was certainly dead, when in fact he knew in all likelihood it was just classic Jane: bombs going off without injury and her disappearing without a trace. “Well, what do you think?” Skip asked Steve, “. . . was Stover just keeping to our deal – not going after one of the good guys?”
Rocky? He’s still waiting for an answer from the lady who beat him in a bridge game with a double grand slam, but Rocky had lots of thoughts about Jane: “What a gal – sure knows how to have fun! Pretends to be a terrorist. Writing pretend ransom notes. Yah, Gordy’s a lucky guy – I’ve always thought redheads were the best at knowing ‘What is Fun?’ ”
There were lots of opinions about Jane. Ken’s was probably most accurate: “She was born in 1954. A preacher’s daughter. A family that marched with Martin Luther King. I knew her SLA crowd. Most were idealists – truly believing they were out to make a better world. Then they got caught up with that Cinque character, an escaped felon hiding in a Berkeley commune. Took his name from the leader of a slave ship rebellion. A real charismatic fellow, even mesmerizing. Not sure what she saw in Rafferty – probably remnants of her old idealism, but really another Cinque-type-character. Once she caught on to that – the sex trafficking and all – she more than ditched him – she turned him in. Sure glad she ended up with Gordy. Gordy’s been top-notch in my book for a long time.”
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Oh, the thing that didn’t turn out so good? Good news and bad news. Bad news first – that movie producer in L.A. that Patty hired on with? Turned out to be another Harvey Weinstein. Good news: Steve had negotiated a contract for Patty that included treble damages for sexual harassment. “Patty, and Her Boys,” the new title of the movie.
THE END