Defective Cars and Delinquents

 I remember that autumn morning at the Courthouse on The Square at San Marcos, Texas, as Judge Williamson presided over my case and four other kids with me for stealing a car from the parking lot at the University here. There were hundreds of cars parked in this section of the University that morning, but this pretty red one was the only one that had the keys still on the ignition and was unlocked. For a car thief this was too much to offer for free and the car seemed to open its arms and invite us in. We had stolen the red car while playing hooky from school and we had decided to ride to Corpus Christi, Texas in it. My uncle Raymond was only a couple of years older than me and he was the only one that could drive standard cars. So Peter, Joe Louis, my brother Sam, Raymond, and I took off to Corpus Christi to check out the beach and have some fun. And as we drove down those lonely highways with the windows down, we were slowed down several times by Mr. Green Jean as they drove their slow big moving farm tractors in front of us. We were not Seers or Hunters on any quest, we were just out and about to kill the boredom. Had we been Seers, we would have taken another route to avoid the portal in front of us, which also opened its arms to us and welcomed us with the rest of the neighborly welcoming committee that would take us into the place "Van Morrison" called, "Into the mystic". Everything was going fine until we came to Floresville, Texas where the radiator on the car overheated on us. And as we searched for a place to get water, there was nothing out there except a large ranch style house on the side of the road. So we stopped nonchalantly and went to the front door as friendly as any salesman and knocked on the door a lot of times. And we waited for someone to answer the door. Our intention was to ask for water only here and move on. The front door was opened and the screen door was the only thing between us and the inside of the house and it was unlocked. And since no one answered, we went inside and nobody was home. So a thief does what a thief does and we searched the house rapidly and found high powered rifles and pistols and helped ourselves to food and water. We loaded up things fast and hit the road again happy as meadowlarks for the unforeseen fortunes that were being handed to us on a silver platter this gorgeous day. Then we came upon a town named Karnes City, Texas and we intended to just drive through and keep moving when we see a police car with his sirens on and he is locked in on us. So we pull over and we ask the police, what's wrong officer? And he is looking at all of us kids suspiciously and he asked Raymond, didn't you see the stop sign back there? And we all turn to where he is pointing to and there are no signal lights back there. Then Raymond asked, "what stop sign officer?" This police officer is a big White guy, and he pointed back again and said, "That one!" So we look again and Raymond says, "That's the stop sign, that little thing there is only 3 feet tall and is almost covered in shrubs." And the officer again asked, "Well, didn't you see it?" And Raymond says, "No, Officer." Then the policeman asked all of us, "Where are you guys headed anyway?" Then there was a pause and then I answered and said, "Officer our grandma in Corpus Christi is dying and we need to say our goodbyes to her before she dies and that is where we are going now." Then this officer asked Raymond for a driver license and Raymond said, " Officer, we borrowed the car from my sister and she allowed us to hurry to Corpus because she had to work. I know that none of us has a license but we love our grandma and we need to see her today." Then the officer tells us to move out of his town. And right about here I can picture "Buddy Guy" singing and picking on his guitar that great song, "And it feels like rain". We wasted no time and left! We kept looking back to see what this policeman was gonna do. And just up ahead a little ways we saw the junction to Highway 37 going sort of east and west. And when we get to 37 going in an easterly direction, we look back, and here comes that Policeman speeding like the devil after us from Karnes City. We had just seen a sign that said 'Welcome to Kennedy, Texas' back a ways and that officer was still some distance away when we saw a young white man with some luggage standing on the right side of the road hitchhiking towards some town up ahead. It couldn't have been Kennedy because that town was right within view in front of us. So we decided to stop and pick him up in hopes the policeman kept going and was chasing someone else. But here it seems that our fortunes are changing just before sunset in a desert wasteland where only watermelons and Cops grow. And as misfortune would have it, there was no one out there in this isolated ranch and farm towns; just us and the police Officer. Oh, and the hitchhiker. Oh!, and the cows swapping flies with their tails from their shitty asses. Poor hitchhiker, he was happy throwing all his luggage on top of us in the back seat after we pulled over to pick him up because he was gonna get a free ride damn it. And we were happy too because his luggage was gonna conceal loaded handguns in the back seat. The rifles were in the trunk of the car. And just as the hitchhiker got in the car and sat comfortably down with a sigh of relief, the Police officer pulled behind our stolen car. But this  time he had his hand gun pointed at us after he got out of his car. He yelled all kinds of obscenities at us and told us to stay in the car. We sat there a few minutes as Highway Patrolmen in their cars pulled up all around us with sirens blaring loud, and so did other policemen from nearby. Even off duty deputies drove up in their personal pick up trucks and surrounded us. Then one by one an officer came to the car and pulled each one of us out of the car and commenced to beat us up mercilessly. They threw us to the ground and punched us like we were punching bags. They kicked us on our faces as hard as they could with those cowboy boots. They whacked us with their night sticks like they were trying to kill a stray starving coyote that wandered into their backyard to take with him a kicked back lazy chicken. Blood was splattering all over the officers, us, and the grass. I was wondering what the.... did we do so damn wrong to deserve this severe ass whipping. We just stole a car, some guns, and food for us and water for the overheated car. I mean the whipping didn't stop, not even when they threw us into their car. And when we got to the jail house in Karnes City, we thought we were gonna be fed because it was already 7 p.m. in the evening. By now we were in the jail cells and again one by one we were taken out of our cells and given another Texas ass beating. And they didn't even feed us. Then a Sheriff came and told us that we shouldn't have broken into his deputy's house in Floresville. Then things began to make sense to me, I mean for the officers' rabid rage against us. I would have reacted the same way if my Family had been violated by outsiders. Oh!, by the way, the young hitchhiker, the last I saw of him was the police letting him go, back there where we picked him up at the car. He looked depressed and dumb founded as he unpacked his luggage from our stolen red car. But he was let go. And as I look back there to that day, I am sure he had to have felt somewhat like us kids, very disappointed and unfortunate. Back at the jail house, and after an ass whooping that would become extremely common into the future for me, especially at the Gatesville, Texas correctional facility for boys in 1965 through 1969, our San Marcos Sheriff Kinser arrived with a deputy at Karnes City and they drove us home. I remember that Sheriff Kinser was a good man. I got to drive back in his car that night from Karnes City. Out of all those white officers in Karnes City, there was a good Highway Patrolman there then. I could tell that he didn't want to be that brutal. He would hold back as much as he could.. And so we went to Court a week later and were not released from jail. We stood to face Judge "Buster" Williamson. Man!, was he a great man or what? That early morning that day my Dad took off from work to be present and hear the verdict on us. And the Judge said, "Boys, I hereby sentence all of you to the reform school in Gatesville, Texas for 6 months each. Goodbye, and I hope you learn your lessons well." Then he turned to my dad and asked if he had anything to say on the verdict and dad said, "No." Dad then turned and walked away, didn't even say goodbye to Sam or me. Can you hear "Richie Haven," singing, "Sometimes I feel like a motherless child." After he left we waited there for our transport to Gatesville, our next home away from home. And as I looked out the window of the 2nd floor of the courthouse and watched my dad walk straight to his car parked on the east corner that day. I saw him load up and he drove back to his work at Aquarena Springs Resort just like it was a normal everyday experience for him. By this time he was numb to the pain. What an embarrassing thing for a parent who worked their ass off all their life, just to protect the honor of the family name, just to be handed such a pathetic return. But guys, this story gets pathetically uglier and tragic as time crawls forward. So let me close with this phrase that I heard in a dream not long ago. All I heard in this dream was a white man's voice and this is what he said, "The Law of Life, and Law of a good day." Please note here guys that some of the riddles I receive are not easy, the phenomena I see are hard to decipher too. Sometimes it takes time to translate these dreams of mine. And some things are not meant to be known. I even went to Ministers and they couldn't make heads or tails out of what I was asking answers for. But "God" gave us the wherewithal to search for answers that can be known on our own. Well, here goes my definition for this phrase. The Law of Life means that everything that "God" has created in this physical realm, that includes the Universe, is gonna die. This is called "Entropy" the second Law of Thermodynamics in Physics. Now, The Law of a Good Day, all this means is that Tomorrow is not guaranteed to no human being. Hence, please enjoy life to the fullest today. Please don't let your babies or yourself be cheated out of the good that comes with every morning. The Mercies of "God" are brand new every morning, just for you. Enjoy it because it can be the last and nobody knows when our names will be called. And please don't commit crimes in Texas. When these people say "Don't mess with Texas" they are not playing! I remember being at the Eastham Unit and Ramsey Unit in the early and middle 1980's, and one common refrain the out of state convicts there would say was, "The next time I commit a crime, it won't be Texas. Hell, if I have to go all the way around this State, I will!" That is it for today guys. Let us sleep on that and thanks again.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 Respectfully,   

                                                                                                                             Ruben N. Gutierrez