Sunday, January 08, 2006

Stalking a Good Read

We pass around books at school. One year, the middle school had
a reading contest. The top 5 winners got to go to Pizza Hut for lunch.
I was one of the two teacher winners. WooHoo! Out to lunch! The
bad news...we had to supervise the kids. Of course, they were the
nerd kids, so it was no problem.

I have been reading "The Night Stalker." By "reading", I mean that I
turned to the pictures and read the captions. Hey, I haven't had
time. My 9th graders are reading "Lord of the Flies", and after 2
hours of reading that, I have to catch up on my regular work, and
don't have time to read.

Mr. K brought me "The Night Stalker." I mentioned it at the lunch
table--not so much the book, as the subject of the book. When
#1 son had his sleep-over party in December, #2 son and I went
to my Hillbilly Mama's house for the night. She and #2 slept in the
family room on the fold-out couch, and I was upstairs in the master
bedroom. I normally stay up late, and around 1:00 a.m. I flipped
channels and found a show about Richard Ramirez on MSNBC.

I became quite absorbed in the story. Then it got really creepy.
Duh! What was I thinking? I could feel the heat of Los Angeles
in the summer. I was tired like the people at work, who could
not sleep at night out of fear for the Night Stalker. He was so
random. There was no way to predict the next area he would
strike. I rejoiced when he returned from visiting his brother,
walked into a liquor store, and saw his picture on the front
page of the newspaper. I chased along with the angry mob,
and took a swing at him before the police could rescue him.
Then my blood ran cold. It was the look he gave that
photographer as the police put him, bandaged head and
all, into the back seat of the police car. HE WAS CRAZY.
Again, duh! Of course he was nuts. But that look creeped
me out. I almost had to turn off the TV. Almost.

The laughing in the courtroom, and the pentagrams on the
palms...none of that was as bad as the look. I looked for
the look in the book photos, but they didn't have that exact
moment when I could see the crazy. But what I did find was a
photo of his wife. His wife who married him while he was in
prison waiting to be executed for his 19 death sentences.

This just proves our theory from my lunch table a couple years
ago: Any man can get a woman. Why did this lunatic marry
Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker? He's not going to be a
very good provider. The sex can't be that good, because it is
nonexistent! The state of California does not allow conjugal
visits for death row inmates. And did I mention that he was
sentenced to death 19 times? Yep, Ramirez married a 41-
year-old virgin in 1996. She was one of his groupies. When
I googled him, I found out that his wife, though raised a
Catholic, respected his Satanic worship. She gave him a silver
wedding band, since Satan worshippers will not wear gold.
Who knew?

Why do women marry death row inmates? I have no clue. They
don't get any money or benefits. Do they just want to say they're
married, without the responsibilities? Is their self-esteem so low
that they think they can't capture anyone else? I don't get it. Do
men marry death row women? If anybody knows the answers,
pass them on to me. If I find out when I actually read the book,
I will let you know. And no comments about how my reading
list is about 30 years out of date!

7 Comments:

Blogger Rebecca said...

Hi Hillbilly Mom,
So people who follow satan don't wear gold? Mmmm, let me see....
When I got married, I had the gold ring on my finger for all of 2 minutes, and never wore it again. I don't own anything gold, but love silver. Mmmm.
Well I guess I will be off now, got to carve 666 in my forehead, and find myself a sauna. It's too cold here on earth.
HooRoo
Rebecca

7:50 PM  
Blogger Dak-Ind said...

greetings from michele!

actually, i gotta admit, i dont understand some womens fascination with inmates. have you seen the inmate love line things on the internet where you can start relationships with these men!?!

there are a lot of things i dont understand about other members of my gender... this is but one.

12:35 AM  
Blogger LanternLight said...

"I found out that his wife, though raised a Catholic, respected his Satanic worship."

It's gotta be said, "Only in America!"

She's a nutter.

3:54 AM  
Blogger Hillbilly Mom said...

Bec,
I knew you were pure evil! That explains it.

Dak-Ind,
Thanks for dropping in. My little old grandma used to get calls from inmates at a local prison. She would sit and talk for a while with them. She said they were lonely. Her last name started with a "B". Those guys probably went through the phone book until they found someone who would talk. She drew the line at accepting collect calls, though.

Lantern,
I have to agree with you on this one!

7:50 AM  
Blogger MamaKBear said...

I've always wondered that myself...what SANE woman would wanna marry a death row inmate?? Especially one that probably has a snowball's chance in hell of ever getting out?? I just don't get it.

Also, I remember reading Lord of the Flies when I was 9th grade. I liked the story and had read the whole book twice before the class finished it once. I'm a fast reader and it was either read it again or sit there and be bored.

11:34 AM  
Blogger Redneck Diva said...

Ummm....is it strange that I read Lord of the Flies in the 4th grade?

My aunt who was a high school English teacher told me to read it. Either she thought I was just really mature or she thought the skills would come in handy someday? Hmh.


I'm not evil since, even though I won't wear yellow gold, I wear white gold, not really silver. Just thought I'd throw that in. In case there was doubt.

2:52 PM  
Blogger Hillbilly Mom said...

MKB,
Hmm...we were never assigned to read it. We did stinkin' Greek AND Roman mythology, and The Canterbury Tales.

Diva,
Um..no stranger than I, who read it for "fun" even though it was never assigned. I did the same with The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables and Dracula and Frankenstein. The House of the Seven Gables sucked a big one. The others were OK.

I didn't think you were evil. I've seen your nerdly picture directing the band. Anybody who'd sold her soul to the devil would never have been in THAT position.

6:41 PM  

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