A Lethal Legacy Read Online Free Page A

memory from
1959 stood out in particular.
    I remembered running down the field clutching the football under
my arm. The shouts in the stands sounded like one loud roar. I crossed the line
to make the touchdown that put Ypsilanti High School in the state championship
game. I knew cheering loudest would be Gary who attended all of my games. He
was my biggest fan. Even though it meant that he had to suffer through the
painful accusations from his father whenever I excelled on the athletic field,
he still came to applaud for me.
    My parents and I
lived in Ypsilanti, just down the road from Ann Arbor, but miles apart socially
and economically. Ypsilanti, whose motto was, "The town that works,"
housed several automobile factories on the eastern or Detroit side. Eastern
Michigan University formed the boundary on the Ann Arbor side. In between lived
the blue-collar class created in the years just before and following World War
II.
    On the other side of
the tracks, Ann Arbor housed the white-collar professional class that had grown
out of the large medical and scientific research facilities at the University
of Michigan.
    As a senior, I was
finishing the football season with a bang, but I was happy my career as an
athlete was ending. I preferred gentler pursuits such as reading and writing. However,
I kept my preferences private from the rest of the family because they wouldn't
understand. Gary already received his share of abuse and ridicule for not
having the athletic abilities and inclinations of his father and now me.
However, he made up for those deficiencies by becoming a leader at Pioneer High
School and dating all of the prettiest girls in his class, although he refused
to tie himself down to just one steady girlfriend. He also managed to look the
part of the athlete by lifting weights obsessively, even when he and I just
hung out in his room after family dinners. Philip always approved of that and
kept buying him more and more equipment. It was the only thing the two of them
had in common.
    I looked up into the
stands where I knew my father and Uncle Philip would be sitting side by side
each analyzing and criticizing my every move while bragging to those around
them about their star athlete. Uncle Philip would be trying to take all the
glory by saying I had inherited his genes, and my father, quieter and grumpier,
would make sure everyone knew I was actually his son. Aunt Susan, their sister,
would be trying to referee as Aunt Claire and my mother ignored them.
    When I came out of
the locker room after the game, they all waited to take me out for a victory
dinner. It looked like I wouldn't be going out with my girlfriend after all. I
wouldn't put her through a dinner with the whole family just yet. We hadn't
been dating long enough. Besides, I wasn't ready for her to meet Gary. Without
even trying, Gary attracted every girl I ever dated and left me wondering if
they only went out with me to get a little closer to the handsome and elusive
Gary Townsend.
    My father, Stanley,
and his brother, Philip, stood side-by-side waiting for me to join them after I
had received congratulations from all of the other families waiting for their
sons. The contrast between the two brothers was as different as Ypsilanti and
Ann Arbor, their respective homes.
    Their personalities
always clashed, but I had never really noticed the physical differences. They
shared some similar features, like the receding hairline and the sandy blonde
hair turning a dusty gray; just enough features in common for someone to know
they were related. However, over the years, those similarities had taken
different courses.
    Both were tall men
although Philip was slightly taller now, as my father seemed to be shrinking
before my eyes. Philip wore a dark sports jacket with a pressed white shirt and
bright red tie. His polished loafers provided a stark contrast to the dull
working shoes that covered my father's feet. My father had worn his best
flannel pea coat for the