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From: Larry Smith
Subject: HSMB
Well, here is some more about Kurt. Also, got a bunch of e-mails asking what I look like, so see the attachment. No big deal, just call me Larry instead of Mr. Smith, okay? : - )
Also, got some e-mails saying that I was a poser because I claimed to be Kurt's uncle. I am not, in fact, Kurt's uncle by blood. I am only his uncle by marriage. I thought I had cleared that up ages ago, but oh well.
It was summertime in 1978, so Kurt was eleven years old. I had dinner with my sister and her husband, Don, at the house in Montesano. They were sort of arguing about what to do about "that bitch in Aberdeen" (Wendy) and her problems with Kurt. My sis never mentioned Wendy by name; just as "that bitch in Aberdeen." Don wanted to bring Kurt into the house for a while, but my sister was against it. She had heard that Kurt was hard to handle, and would upset the rest of the family. My personal opinion is that she was jealous of anything that might take away from attention to herself. Please bear in mind that I do love my sister; I just didn't agree with her way of doing things. I think that she sort of "lost it" for being nice to people after our Mother died when she was 12 and I was 11. I guess it was just her way of reacting to an unfair world. I know that my way of reacting was to just go into my own little world for quite a few years. She had to sort of "be the mother' after that, which I guess is a normal way of reacting. My Dad was an unpredictable alcoholic who thrived on beating the hell out of me - I have had a dull ache in my back ever since he slammed me with a 2x4 when I didn't get out of his way in time when I was in my early teens. I have no idea what he might have done to my sister; I never asked. There was really nowhere to turn to, in a legal sense, in those days. It was still considered okay to beat both the wife and the kids if they "got out of line." Telling the "town clown" as the only cop (Gene Mero) in town was called, would not get you anywhere, as the male adults in town had a foolproof "good ole boy" system. So I basically hid from Dad for the rest of my life. I was fairly clever in this endeavor, and had this huge plywood walk-in closet that I sealed off. I had a space in there about 4 feet by 6 feet that I put a mattress in, and I snaked an extension cord into the space for a light bulb. No one ever found out, so I must have done a pretty good job. I did tell my grandfather about it later in life. I read the complete World Book Encyclopedia over the course of three years in there! The reason I am telling you this is to get a perspective of me and my sister, as it will have a bearing on the way Kurt was perceived later. I am not looking for sympathy, as I generally had it pretty good. I am just trying to show why I empathized with Kurt. I was supremely lucky to have my grandmother and grandfather on my Dad's side. They were wonderful, and my relationship with my grandfather (Gramps) was unbelievably loving. So anyway, Don and my sis were arguing about all this, and I think that finally they just decided to try to get Kurt into the house to "try it out". Don was a pretty bullheaded guy, and my sis would use guilt to try to get her way, so you can imagine the fireworks. I mentioned that I thought it would be really "helping the guy out to try to make some sense out of his parent's divorce." I clammed up when my sis shot me a "look that could kill." Obviously, things were not going to go well - and that certainly proved to be true. Kurt came to live there about three or four days later. I visited my sis fairly regularly, as it was only about ten minutes from my place on Camp Creek Road. I was married to my ex-wife then, and she and my sis got along pretty good. I had called to come over, and the subject came up that Kurt had moved in. I asked how it was going, and my sis just sort of snarled about it. Gramps later told me that he was there when Kurt came, and that there was "a lot of tension" right off the bat. Well, I went over for a birthday party or some kind of graduation or something on a Friday evening. I was not really anticipating meeting Kurt, and I was more focused on seeing my niece and nephew (my sis's two children from a previous marriage). I was standing with my wife at the time in the living room with my sis, Don, my niece and nephew, my wife, my grandmother and Gramps. We were just indulging in the usual prattle and small talk about whatever. I glanced over to the doorway to the kitchen, and there was this yellow-haired kid standing there making faces at my nephew. I had to laugh immediately, as the face he was making was so "stretched out" beyond imagination! When I laughed though, my sis immediately looked over to Kurt and said something to the effect of "knock that shit off in this house." I went over to Kurt and introduced myself. He was looking down, embarassed, at the time. When I put out my hand, he took it to shake it, and then looked up at me. His unbelievable piercing eyes startled me, and I will not forget how they seemed to be a mirror of his soul. An unnerving first impression. I asked him something like "How ya doing?". He just shrugged and mumbled something. Then he smiled and I felt like the room had lit up. Funny, but the rest of the time that I had contact with Kurt, the main things that always came to mind was how he could absolutely illuminate the area with a smile, and absolutely devastate the area with a frown. He had the ability to purvey his emotions to those around him.
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