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The Seed Discussion Forum / Me, Art Barker and the showdown at poolside
« on: August 05, 2002, 02:27:00 PM »
The Year was 1977, and my life was in turmoil. I had escaped the clutches of my father and was not speaking to him.I was bitter and angry with no one to talk to and was using drugs and getting into trouble and trying to survive with minimal guidance and no positive examples. My father was busy in St Petersburg with The Straight, my sister and his step family. Our family had become divided into two camps, and my sister and I were barely speaking. I thought she was on his side and I was anti everything he stood for. To me, anyone whom even associated with him was a potential enemy and a threat to my freedom.
Anyway, I was living with my mother in Ft Lauderdale. After escaping my father and his plans to declare me incorrigible and throw me back into the program and spending time in Jail, Juvey, and group home all because I rejected the program , I had turned into a angry 175 pound fairly dangerous guy. My friends were all disturbed people like me and they were criminals and drug dealers/users.
One day my friend Chuck and I went over our other friend Joe's apartment. Joe lived just south of the lauderhill mall on 441 in an apartment building. Joe, Chuck, Me, and two girls all went by the pool which was crowded with people on a Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, it was mid afternoon and we had all be misbehaving, drinking and smoking.
I was laying in a lounge chair when I noticed that the pool was filled with young women that rang a disturbing bell in me.In fact, I thought, These girls remind me of Seedlings."Naw, It couldn't be", I said to myself. I turned my head in puzzlement and all of a sudden, in the middle of the pool I saw him, ART BARKER. I had inadvertently stumbled into one of those apartments where Girls staff lived, and Art, true to form, was cavorting in the pool with them. As I sat there, high, I became angry and stood up and walked over to the steps to the pool "hey, you, I know who you are, you fucking asshole" The whole pool and all the people sitting around it stopped talking and looked at me. "You are Art Barker, you shithead, you fucked up my whole family, you fucking criminal I outta kick your fucking ass"
Artie got out of the pool and walked over by me, but by now I was ranting, stuck my finger in his face and unleashed my verbal assault on him. He could do nothing. He reached out and grabbed my elbow and said "son..." I cut him off, "now you did it, you fucking moron, you touched me, Now I am going to kick your fukcing ass, then call the police and have you arrested, you fuck" By now I was hyperventilating and on the verge of attacking him.
Art and all the Seed girl staff members turned at the same time and walked away and left the pool area poste haste. I went back and sat in my chair. I was on the verge of passing out from rapid breathing. My friends were pissed at me "dude, that was totally uncool" "what the fuck, Greg, I live here man, what are you doing" I tried to respond, to make them see that my actions were not one of an insane person "you don't know who that is, That is Art Barker," they didn't/couldn't get it and the whole pool was staring at me.
I leaned back and closed my eyes. They didn't even know what the seed was, what I had been thru, how my whole life had been torn asunder and I couldn't even begin to verbalize it. Hell, I didn't even totally understand myself, I just knew I had been screwed out of a normal teenage life and had just been face to face with my own personal Satan and confronted him. My mind was racing but I was paralyzed in my chair, unable to rationalize the events that just unfolded.
Later that evening I went to my mom's place and told her what happened. "Wow, Greg, Really?" and she changed the subject to something like dinner. I called my sister frieda and told her, she didn't want to talk about it. No one would. I buried the experience and over the years only mentioned it briefly to members of the family when the subject would rarely wander to the Seed. I often wondered if the people who were there at the pool still remember it? Did it have an impact on Art? Does he remember it today?
I would so love to hear from someone whom was there and hear the story told from their perspective.
[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2002-08-05 13:45 ]
Anyway, I was living with my mother in Ft Lauderdale. After escaping my father and his plans to declare me incorrigible and throw me back into the program and spending time in Jail, Juvey, and group home all because I rejected the program , I had turned into a angry 175 pound fairly dangerous guy. My friends were all disturbed people like me and they were criminals and drug dealers/users.
One day my friend Chuck and I went over our other friend Joe's apartment. Joe lived just south of the lauderhill mall on 441 in an apartment building. Joe, Chuck, Me, and two girls all went by the pool which was crowded with people on a Sunday afternoon. Needless to say, it was mid afternoon and we had all be misbehaving, drinking and smoking.
I was laying in a lounge chair when I noticed that the pool was filled with young women that rang a disturbing bell in me.In fact, I thought, These girls remind me of Seedlings."Naw, It couldn't be", I said to myself. I turned my head in puzzlement and all of a sudden, in the middle of the pool I saw him, ART BARKER. I had inadvertently stumbled into one of those apartments where Girls staff lived, and Art, true to form, was cavorting in the pool with them. As I sat there, high, I became angry and stood up and walked over to the steps to the pool "hey, you, I know who you are, you fucking asshole" The whole pool and all the people sitting around it stopped talking and looked at me. "You are Art Barker, you shithead, you fucked up my whole family, you fucking criminal I outta kick your fucking ass"
Artie got out of the pool and walked over by me, but by now I was ranting, stuck my finger in his face and unleashed my verbal assault on him. He could do nothing. He reached out and grabbed my elbow and said "son..." I cut him off, "now you did it, you fucking moron, you touched me, Now I am going to kick your fukcing ass, then call the police and have you arrested, you fuck" By now I was hyperventilating and on the verge of attacking him.
Art and all the Seed girl staff members turned at the same time and walked away and left the pool area poste haste. I went back and sat in my chair. I was on the verge of passing out from rapid breathing. My friends were pissed at me "dude, that was totally uncool" "what the fuck, Greg, I live here man, what are you doing" I tried to respond, to make them see that my actions were not one of an insane person "you don't know who that is, That is Art Barker," they didn't/couldn't get it and the whole pool was staring at me.
I leaned back and closed my eyes. They didn't even know what the seed was, what I had been thru, how my whole life had been torn asunder and I couldn't even begin to verbalize it. Hell, I didn't even totally understand myself, I just knew I had been screwed out of a normal teenage life and had just been face to face with my own personal Satan and confronted him. My mind was racing but I was paralyzed in my chair, unable to rationalize the events that just unfolded.
Later that evening I went to my mom's place and told her what happened. "Wow, Greg, Really?" and she changed the subject to something like dinner. I called my sister frieda and told her, she didn't want to talk about it. No one would. I buried the experience and over the years only mentioned it briefly to members of the family when the subject would rarely wander to the Seed. I often wondered if the people who were there at the pool still remember it? Did it have an impact on Art? Does he remember it today?
I would so love to hear from someone whom was there and hear the story told from their perspective.
[ This Message was edited by: GregFL on 2002-08-05 13:45 ]