March 16, 2001
Opened in July of 1852, California State Prison San Quentin is located on the shore of San Francisco Bay, near the western end of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Al Calavicci drives a Ford Crown Victoria along Main Street to the eastern gate, where visitors arrive. One of the uniformed guards walks up to the car and checks his credentials.
"You may enter, sir," says the guard.
The observer parks the car in the visitor parking lot. Only a few other people are here, mostly to visit inmates in prison. Al himself wears a black jacket, black dress pants, and back dress shoes, clothing much more subdued than what he wears in the Quantum Leap imaging chamber.
He waits inside some sort of lobby for the visitors. It is bare. While waiting, Al takes the time to read some files that Ziggy printed out with an Apple LaserWriter 12/640 PS. He had to make quite a few phone calls to make this happen.
As usual for the past few days, Al thinks of Gooshie. Gooshie would be pulling observer duty. He did identify a promising successor.
"Mr. Calavicci," says a uniformed guard.
"Yes?" he asks.
"Prisoner La Palma is waiting for you."
Two guards lead Al through a door and they walk along a plain hallway. He soon goes to a door on the right.
The room only has one stainless steel table. Only three people are in the room. Two of them are prison guards, and one of them is an inmate with black hair, olive-complected skin, and a goatee, who appears to be about thirty years of age.
"Hello there," says the observer. "My name is Al Calavicci."
"Italian, eh?" asks the prisoner. "I'm Jimmy La Palma. Never learned Italian, though."
"Glad you take the time to see me."
"I still have a few years left," replies Jimmy. "Every break in the routine is like a mini-vacation. I mean, two years ago I even got to leave to testify in a prisoner lawsuit. It was bogus, but at least I got a field trip to San Francisco. It was nice looking out over the Golden Gate Bridge."
"I want to talk about Joey Schultz," says Al.
"Joey," says the prisoner. He had not forgotten about his friend even after nearly seventeen years. "Not a day goes by."
"Were you in a relationship with a teacher named Katie Brown back in 1984?"
"Yeah. I can't forget. I mean, it felt good, but I knew it was wrong."
"I understand why you were vulnerable, Jimmy. Your mom died in 1983, your dad had to work extra shifts to make up for the lost income."
"Yeah, looking back on it after a decade and a half, I know."
"My mother walked out on me and my dad and my sister when I was eight," says Al. "Sometimes I feel it, even after more than fifty years. Back then, I would have..."
"My mom didn't choose to die."
"You were looking for a mother figure, and so was I. I do remember one thing. Joey used to sleep over the first week after your mom died."
Jimmy stands up, his arms handcuffed together. "How did you know? Wait a minute. I must have said it in juvenile court, just before they sent me to the youth camp." The prisoner briefly recalls his time there. He had finished growing up there, released on his twenty-first birthday. "I can still recall the look in his eyes. He felt betrayed. And he was right to feel betrayed. After everything he did for me. There wasn't a truer friend."
"And the fight that led to you stabbing him, it was because of Katie Brown," says Al.
"Yeah," replies the prisoner. "I knew he was having sex with her. I wanted her for myself. If only I had known."
"Well, you did testify against her. At least she went down."
"What?"
"I thought you testified against a teacher for sexual abuse."
"That wasn't it," says Jimmy. "Miss Brown would visit me in the youth camp. She would often send me letters, and nude pictures. She met with me and told me to report that this teacher, Mr. Weinstein, abused me and Joey. She said she's be waiting for me when I got out, and we'd live together in a cabin by Lake Tahoe. So I testified. Miss Brown personally visited me to tell me that Mr. Weinstein has convicted. After that, I never saw her again,. Never sent me a letter. After I got out, I found she moved away.
"That must be why you're here. You're Mr. Weinstein's attorney, trying to free him. Can you get me out of here? I mean, I know I stabbed a cop and all while resistin' arrest, but he's okay now; it's not like I killed him."
"Maybe I can make it so as if you were never here at all," says Al. He looks at the guards. "I'm done here."
"Very well, sir," says the guard, who leads the observer out of the room.
Two guards then pick up Jimmy La Palma and escort him to the San Quentin yard.
Oooooooooo
Handlink in hand, Al walks into the little hallway connecting the control room with the Imaging Chamber. He presses a few buttons on the multicolored electronic device and the door opens. Walking inside, he is surrounded by a swirl of images which quickly unravels itself.
He finds himself in the hologram of what looks like a pizzeria. There are several wooden tables,. A counter is in the back , with a sign advertising various types of pizza like cheese and pepperoni and mushroom and sausage, various sides like breadsticks and cinnamon sticks and salads, soft drinks like Pepsi and 7-Up, and beers like Budweiser and Corona.
"Sam!" yells the observer.
"Right here," replies Sam Beckett, standing up by one of the wooden tables.
Al walks over. "You're not home."
"Joey's mom left some money," replies the leaper. "I just biked along Lake Tahoe Boulevard, and found this little pizzeria." Sam takes another bite from a slice of pepperoni pizza. "I mean, I can't exactly hang out in the casinos."
"I visited Jimmy at San Quentin Prison today," says Al. "He did stab Joey because he's also having sex with Katie Brown."
Sam sips a Coke. "I'm not surprised to hear that."
"We've all been grieving over Gooshie."
"Yeah, I figured it would feel better to be around people, than just cry in an empty apartment."
"Remember when I told you that Jimmy testified against a teacher in 1986 who was being charged with sexually abusing students."
"Uh, yeah," replies the leaper. "He testified against Katie Brown."
"That's not true, Sam. He testified against a Jonah Weinstein, who was a teacher at the school until 1985, when he was indicted. Brown asked Jimmy to accuse Weinstein of sexual abuse. She promised that they would live together after he was released from juvie hall. She got him to commit perjury against an innocent man."
"I remember something. I overheard a man arguing wirth Brown, knowing she shared dirty pictures. He was trying to get her to resign. His name was Jonah. Let me guess, this gets worse."
"Weinstein was convicted and imprisoned. He was found murdered in the shower rooms in San Quentin in '91. If I wasn't distracted over Gooshie's death, I might have found this out."
"There was no way to stop what happened to Gooshie," says Sam. "We can stop Katie Brown!"
"Right," says Al. "First thing, I need to check up on Jimmy La Palma." he presses buttons on the handlink and disappears."
oooooooooo
May 3, 1984
I bought a ticket to the woooooorld
But now I've come back again
Why do I find it hard to write the next line?
Oh, I want the truth to be said
I know this much is true
I know this much is true
This much is true
This much is true
This much is true
Al once again appears in Katie Brown's cabin in Stateline. He notices Jimmy playing the Coleco, a game called The Dam Busters.
"Time to go home, Jimmy," says Katie Brown.
"Already?" asks the thirteen-year-old boy, turning off the Coleco Vision. He approaches the teacher, who wears a sweater and a skirt. "How about we have sex?"
"No," she says. "It's over."
"What do you mean, it's over?"
"I found someone better."
"who?"
"Joey."
"As in Joey Schultz?" Jimmy asks, confused.
"Yes."
"But why?"
"Joey is the man for me," says Miss Brown. "He knows how to please a woman, how to arouse a woman. He's bigger than you. I can feel him inside."
"He'd never do that to me."
"Oh, he did. He pleased me in ways you could never please a girl. He told me you're a weak, little boy who still cries for his mommy. He says you just want your mommy. He says you'll never grow up."
"No!"
"From now on, you'll have to use your hand. I'm Joey's woman. Leave."
Al is fully enraged and he takes several strong swings at the woman, but his fists just pass through Katie Brown.
Joey's shock turns to anger, anger at Joey Schultz.
Al can see the anger in Jimmy's face.
"She's using you!" yells the observer. "She's using Joey. She's an abuser in the worst way! You need to realize it before you kill Sam- Joey!"
