Ordeal by Cheque by Amelia Atkins

The year was 1903 on the the hot and humid 2nd day of September. This day was not only a day of great joy, but also, of emense sorrow. For this day, a beautiful baby boy was born. But in contrast, a beautiful young woman died. Lawrence Exeter was filled with bitter sweetness as he held for the first time his son, Lawrence Exeter Jr. As he smelled his new born babies smell, he began to cry. His son seemed to have a taint of lemon smell to him; the same smell his mother, who died while concieving him, had. As he continued to fondle the baby, he remembered something that had been bothering him that past week. Just 4 days earlier, as he and his wife had been picking the baby out some toys, he rememered her stating, "My love. If anything should ever happen to me after we have our son, promise you will always give him the best". It was as if she knew she would die somehow... Upon thinking this thought, he felt he must have been losing his mind, ergo, he took the baby home, hired a nanny, then called the best psychiatrist in all of Hollywood. His name was Dr. David M. McCoy. He recieved mental therapy there for about a 2 months.

Sr. Always spoiled Jr. It became so bad, that even by two months old, he expected to get anything he wanted. He knew his father would always oblidge. Sr. always thought his son had to have the best and get whatever he wanted. He found this reasoning to be correct because he felt as though this would make up the spot of his mother. But this was clearly incorrect. Nevertheless, Sr. continued to spoil and lavish his son. When Jr. was at the appropriate age, he was sent to the best all boys school in Hollywood, the Palisades School For Boys. It was there that Sr. noticed Jr. had a couple problems. Sr. recieved a call home at least twice a week about Jr's. behavior. Either he had bullied a student, got into an arguement with a teacher or caused a confrontation between other students. He even stole another boy's bike which Sr. had to replace with his own money.

When Jr. came of age that was limited at the All Boy's school, Sr. decided it best to send Jr. to a military school. He felt this would change his attitude for the better. For a while, it seemed to work. There were never any calls with complaints. No letters home. No anything. So when Jr. returned 5 years later, Sr. supplied him with a brand new cadillac. Yet, to Sr.'s dismay, after only a few days, the car was crashed. Jr. decided to get into a street drag race. It apperaed that Jr. hadn't dodged his old ways after all. Sr. payed for the repairs on the car but decided to keep the car for his own. Deciding that, once again, Jr. could use a change in environment, he sent him off to college at Standford University.

As Sr. lived lonely in his home for two years, he decided it best to go out on the town and find a suitable woman to mate with. He went to the fanciest bar he could find and skimmed his surroundings. Sitting alone in the corner, he saw a gorgeous woman. As he continued to gaze, he began to recognize her. Daisy Windsor. The most popular girl at Hollywood High back when he was a teen. Everybody wanted her, yet no one could get her. She was much to ambitious. He didnt know if she would be married by now or still too held down with any work she was into. He knew he had to try though. He approached her and decided to strike up a conversation. Although she at first seemed up tight, through out the night, she seemed to loosen herself to him. Pretty soon, they were leaving together. Sr. felt as though he had finally found his soul mate. He wanted to show her he could give her anything she could ever want. So after only 3 days of meeting, he gave her a check for $25,000. Only about a week later, they had plans for marraige.

Even though this was a joyous occasion, there was one thing Daisy had to straighten out before they got too excited. "I can not live with your son," she stated. She explained that she had heard about his reckless ways and that she couldnt deal with such chaos. She said he would have to leave the picture if he had planned on making a family with her. Now, most fathers would never abandon their son. Most fathers put there son's first, even if a woman was up at the stakes. But was Lawrence Exeter Sr. most fathers? No. He was only one man. One man, who hadn't had the love he needed in a long time. So what did he do? Set up a flight to France and sent money to a bank account in France. After that, he bought flowers for Daisy and flowers for his wife's grave. He felt this would keep her spirit from haunting him as he re-wed. Once he set the flowers on his dead wife's grave and gave the new flowers to Daisy, he prepared for his new wife. He bought a huge, old elegant mansion in Hawaii. He then got it renovated so that it looked more new. After he got all this established, he bought his new finace a ring with a huge diamond. He then bought cruise tickets for his honeymoon to their new home in Hawaii.

He didnt want to hurt Jr's. feelings, so as he came home from College, he decided to only tell him that he was sending him on a trip to France. Exstatic, Jr. asked no questions. He only packed his bags and left with a $200,000 check in hand. His father told him he had payed for a stay at the best hotel in all of Paris. Before letting his son board the plane, he bought him, too, a boquet of flowers to place on his mother's grave. Just because it seemed right. It was two months until Junior became bored. He called home to his father. He was calling to tell him that he was ready to come home. He felt as though his father would be exremely excited about this some you can imagine his surprise when his father sounded surprised by the news. Sr. realized he couldnt keep his marraige a secret much longer. He explained that he had gotten remarried, and that he wouldnt be welcome at his new home.

This hurt Jr. badly. Not only did HE feel betrayed, but he felt as though his father had somehow ALSO betrayed his mother. He had the mindset that his father should never remarry and that what he was doing was somehow unspeakable. He felt he needed to get back at his father and in the stongest and worst way. He didnt know what that way would be yet, but he knew he had to first get a woman involved. He went to ever lounge he could find until he found the most beautiful woman he could find out of them all. He found her. Her name was Marie Whanton. She was gorgeous. She was down to earth. She was perfect. Jr. wanted her, and wanted her now. And like his father always had him believed, he got whatever he wanted. Marie wasnt an easy girl, though. No matter how much he spent on her, with expensive gowns, lingerie and dresses, she would not open her heart or her legs.

Jr. found this tedious, yet also invigurating. Finally, he came across a challenge. But this challenge was a tad hard on his male needs. He found himself a prostitute. Her name was Flossie. He got her from the best pimp in town. He was also the meanest pimp in town. If Flossie came back stating she was underpaid or she was treated wrongly, you had to watch your back. Tony Spagoni would send his men after you. But see, Jr. just seemed to be unfortunate. He never really did anything to Tony. There was just something about Jr. that Tony didnt like. So when he found out that Jr. Had accidentley gotten Flossie knocked up, Tony was about ready to kill Jr. He made it so Jr. had to pay extra money every time he saw Flossie on the street. If he missed a payment, he was to be killed.

Jr. tried to keep his mind off this. He got into sports because it was one of Marie's many hobbies and bought a bunch or sports utilities. But he also bought a gun. He decided that if Spagoni was out for him, he should carry some protection. Nevertheless, he did pay Spagoni his checks. But another problem was that Flossie seemed to have really caught feelings for Jr. She not only was keeping the baby, but wanted to marry Jr. And it seemed she wouldnt take no for an answer. She followed him home every night. She blew up his phone. She came to the hotel looking for him. She was obssessed. The only way Jr. felt he could get out of it was to tie the knot with Marie. So he went out and bought a boquet of flowers and an expensive diamond ring. They were happily married a few days later/

 3 moths later, he payed Flossie $50,000 to stay away from him. She had stilll been obsessing for the past 3 months. When Marie found out about Flossie and the secret baby she flipped. She was hurt he had kept such a secret from her for so long. She immediatley filed for a divorce. She demanded $5,000 dollars from Jr. for a good lawyer. Their case wasnt really bothered until June. It ruled in favor of Marie, where she recieved $75,000 of his money. As he began paying back the lawyer he had hired, he then remembered he hadn't been paying Tony Spagoni. He tried to make all the checks up by writing another one every day, even if he didnt see Tony, but it was too late. Jr. knew this. He didnt really have anything else to live for. The love of his life left him. He wasnt welcome home from his own father. He didnt have a mother to go to. There was no one else in the world for him ! He then realized maybe if he died, no one would really care.

On the 3rd day of August, he saw a man standing outside his window. He could tell it was one of Spagoni's and he could tell there was a gun in his pocket. He came out of his hotel, hands in the air with a small piece of paper in his right hand. He said, :"Before you do your job, please, just give this letter to my father,". He gave the man the letter then asked for his name so he could pay the man a check for his troubles. The man's name was Peter Ventizzi.

2 days later, Jr's, body was found imported from Paris to the Hollywood Hospital where his father was phones to confirm the identitiy of the body. It was Jr. Jr. with 2 shots to the chest and 1 shot to the head. A few days later, he recieved a letter in the mail saying, "Dear father, I know I may have acted out all time and you werent always the proudest of me, but I always wanted to make you proud. I'm sorry I failed you. I love you. Don't worry about me, I'll be with Mom now." & it was signed, "Junior". Lawrence found this check very depressing and found it suitable he go back to Dr. David M. McCoy for mental help. A day after his first session, he felt he should have his son barried right next to his mother at the Hollywood Montuary.