Chapter 12,
January 30, 2005,
Tomorrow, the people versus Michael Jackson criminal trial begins and I am the only one out of us kids that knows what is going on. Dad had made me promise him that I wouldn't tell Prince, Paris, and Blanket what's going on because he doesn't want to scare them. It's really hard on me keeping such a big secret because underneath my fearless personality; I'm really scared! I do a pretty good job of hiding it though.
We are back in Los Angeles and are staying in a temporary rental house until the trial is over. I went down the hallway and into the living room. I sat down and turned on my Game Boy. Dad came into the room with Prince, Paris, and Blanket following him. I said "when he you guys doing?" He said "nothing much" and sat down seguinte to me on the couch. Prince sat down on the other side of me and asked "what are you playing?" I said "Pokémon Ruby" and turned the power off. Dad asked "are you sure that you don't have anything on your mind AJ?" I said as I went up to my room "yes dad; for the millionth time I'm fine!" He said "okay; I just wanted to make sure that you're okay with everything that's going on."
I shut the door and lay down on my bed. I flipped through the TV channels and change the channel to Nickelodeon. I took a deep breath and said to myself "I can't believe everything that's gone on in this past ano and it's all because of stupidity!" I opened up my dresser drawer and pulled out a fotografia album of pictures. Most of them taken a few months before Prince was born. As I flipped through the pages; I smiled at pictures of dad and I when I was just a few months away from turning three years old. I could hear Prince talking with Grace on the other side of my door and then I heard dad say "bye children, I'll see you in about four hours!"
He knocked on my door and asked "can I come in and spend the time with you for a while?" I said "yeah sure." He walked in and sat down on the bed. He dropped a big box in front of me and said "look what I found!" I looked inside and it was filled to the very topo, início in old VHS tapes. I asked "what do you have all of these for?" He said "it's a whole bunch of início filmes from when you were little and I thought you and I could watch them together. It might help get your mind off of things!" I was reluctant and he said "just watch a few at first… I'm telling you that it will make you feel better. Don't try to tell me that you aren't stressed out because I know you are! I always know when you are!" I asked "how did you know?" He said "I just know when my baby isn't doing well. It's part of being a dad." I rolled my eyes and said "dad; I'm almost 11 years old, I'm not a baby anymore!" He said "you may be getting older but you'll always be my baby!"
He put a videotape in the VCR and pressed the play button.
Video one:
Dated at the bottom of the screen: January, 8, 1996
We were in the living room at Neverland ranch and I was sitting on dad's lap. He started cantar "champion" por Queen. He would sing one lyric and I would sing the next. That went on for about five mais minutos before I got off his lap and started playing with the toy piano that was in the room. He zoomed the camera in on my face and said "you want to be just like just like me when you grow up, don't you?" I said "yes!"
(Dad paused the video and said "even back then you knew what you want it to be!" I said "I still don't see the point in watching this. If anything it's making me mais depressed! He said "just give me the benefit of the doubt please! That's all I ask." He switched videotapes and pressed play again as I rolled my eyes.)
Video two:
Dated at the bottom of the screen: February, 2, 1997
We were in a hotel and a woman behind the camera said "hi AJ!"
(I paused the video and asked dad "who's that holding the camera? I can tell por the voice that isn't Grace." He said "that Debbie. Do you remember her? It's been a long time since you've seen her." I said "yeah; I remember her. I always wondered why she stopped coming over every few months after Paris was born." He said "I'm sure that she is very busy but; you will see her again someday!")
I said "hi; I want to see" while pointing at the camera. She showed me what the camera was filming and then I ran off. The door opened and dad walked inside. He looked at the camera and at Debbie. He asked "you threw away that B – O – T – T – l – E you found last night, right? I don't want AJ to find it. I'm not ready to go into war all over again!" Debbie said "yeah; I thought you told me they you through all of those away a long time ago." He said "I did; I have no idea where she found that one last night! I had to spend 15 minutos convincing her to give it to me!"
I came into the room and said "I want a drink please." He said "okay; I'll get you one." He went over to the refrigerator and took a suco, suco de box out of it. He gave it to me and I threw it on the ground. He said "you're not getting what I know you want! It's that or nothing; understood?" I got mad and stormed off into the other room and he said "that's not going to get you anywhere and you know that." Debbie looked at him and asked "is she always this stubborn?" He said "this is nothing compared to most of her temper tantrums that she throws!" She said "I really don't know how you deal with that every single day. I wouldn't have the patience for it!" He said "its way worse when she knows that I want her to do something and she just 100% refuses to do it! That's the oppositional defiance disorder at its worst!
The video ended and dad said "that video brings back so many memories!" I rolled my eyes and said "oh gosh; please don't say anything embarrassing! Every time you say that you tell some embarrassing story to me about when I was little!" He said "right after Debbie was done filming that video…" I said "dad; if you're going to embarrass me please stop now!" He said "as I was saying; after she was done filming that video…” I said "seriously dad; why do you have to be so embarrassing all the time!" He said "I'm not trying to embarrass you but; I'm just having a hard time accepting that you're growing up." I said "yeah well; you need to accept it because there's nothing you can do about it! I'm not that two-year-old anymore!" He said "I think the only thing that needs to be accepted in the fact that you're scared and you don't want to admit it." I said "I don't know what you're talking about; I'm not scared at all!" He said "you're scared that at the end of this trial there is a chance that I might not come home. I know you're scared! You're not the only one; Grace is scared and so am I.” I said "okay dad; can you seriously leave my room now?" He said "fine but; you can't hide it forever! The longer you keep your feelings inside, the worse it will be in the long run."
February 10, 2005,
I can already tell that this trial is not going to be good on dad's health. He physically drained and all he does is sleep when he gets home. I can honestly say that I've never seen him like this in my entire life. I'm worried that if his trial lasts as long as he thinks it's going to; he is not going to be in the best shape por then.
It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and dad walked through the door dressed in a suit and tie. He sat down on the sofá and he just looked so sad. I walked up to him and asked "are you okay dad?" He didn't answer me as tears filled his eyes. I hugged him and said "it'll be fine! You have to try and stay optimistic about things because that's all you really can do." He said "I know; I just didn't want it to come to all this!" I said "I know that this is hard for you and I'm going to do my best to be well-behaved while you are going to all of this! I can't make any promises though because you know how I am!" That made him laugh and he said "yeah; I have a feeling that won't last very long!"
Grace came into the room and hugged dad. Dad said "AJ; I promise that I will be the best father that I can possibly be; even with all this going on! Don't worry… I'm not checking out as your father. There is one thing that I would like of you guys though. Grace asked "what's that Michael?" He said "the segundo I walked through that door every day, we make a habit of not talking about the trial. It's easier on me that way! I said "that's fine with me! I don't like talking about it either, it's depressing." He said "the only time the three of us will talk about the trial beyond this point is if there is a bad outcome… I doubt and hope that there won't be a bad outcome."
February 16, 2005
Today is the start of the weekend so; dad doesn't have court for a few days. I went upstairs to get something out of my room and when I looked at my Jesse McCartney poster on my mural there was a mustache drawn on it. I ran downstairs and said "you're done for Prince!" Dad said "wait! What are you talking about?" Prince smiled and ran up to his room. I said "Prince drew all over my Jesse McCartney poster with a sharpie marker! He's really going to regret doing that in a few minutes!" Dad said "hey, just calm down; besides I'm not going to let you beat him up on my watch! That's not going to get you anywhere and you know that." I said "oh I see how it is! You're just going to let him get away with drawing on my poster!" He said "no; I didn't say that at all! I'll make him buy you a new one with money from his own piggy bank." I said "he deserves worse than that though!" Dad said "stop saying stuff like that! He's your brother and you need to be nice to him!"
I ran up to my room and dad followed me. I went to slam the door and he stopped it with his foot. I ripped the poster off my mural and sat down on the edge of my bed. He sat down seguinte to me and said "I'm not leaving here until you calm down. Ever since the trial started; you have been having outbursts. I know exactly what's wrong and you do too but; you're in denial about it!" I said "I'm not in denial about anything!" He said "yes you are! You're amargo, amarga and angry because you're scared! You need to talk about it because the longer you keep your feelings inside the worse it will be when you finally let them out." I said "I'm not scared of anything! Will you please leave me alone now! He said "this isn't about the poster at all; you just want to make it seem like it is!"
After about 20 minutos of waiting for me to talk to him, dad said as he threw his hands up in the air feeling defeated "fine if you don't want to talk to me; then don't! I'm here if you need me but; I'm done trying for now." He left my room and I stood in the doorway listening to a conversation between him and Grace from downstairs. Dad said "I don't know what else to do! I know all Alanna needs to do is cry! I don't know if she's specifically mad at me or mad at this whole situation in the first place. She won't talk to me about anything. I can tell por the look in her eyes that she is absolutely terrified of what's going to happen to me at the end of this trial." Grace asked "have you thought about where the children would end up if you went to prison?" He said "well; Blanket, Paris, and Prince would live with my mother. I haven't talked to her about the situation with AJ because honestly I don't think she can handle Alanna's ADHD and oppositional defiance disorder!" Grace said "if I can't handle her there's no way your elderly mother is going to be able to! I mean you yourself can barely deal with her!" He said "look at how red she turned and that was just because Prince colored on her poster! I'm worried that as AJ gets older it's going to get physical one of these times! He said "you know that I would never hurt her. I don't care if she hurts me but; when she's that angry it's hard to calm her down before the situation escalates!" Grace said "I just hope that it never reaches that point!"
March 1, 2005,
I was in the cozinha of our rental início in Los Angeles and dad had just put my brothers and sister to bed. I said as I put dishes in the sink "I wish that the Jesse McCartney tickets were not sold out when you looked at them when you got início today! Are you sure all of the tickets are sold out?" He said "I promise you; ALL the tickets for the Beautiful Soul tour are gone! You're just going to have to wait until he goes on tour when the seguinte CD comes out. I'm sorry; I really did try to get them for you. Since I had to go to court today, I had Grace go online the segundo the tickets went on sale but; por the time she filled out the shipping address for the tickets they were all sold out." I said "well; at least you tried! I hope it doesn't take Jesse too long to come out with a new album."
Dad got up from his chair and walked over to hug me. I said "I'm going to go listen to my Jesse McCartney CD before I lie down and watch TV until I fall asleep." He said as I walked up the stairs "I'm sorry AJ… I know how bad you wanted those tickets!" I said as I shut my bedroom door "it's fine dad; I'm not mad at you. The seguinte tour will definitely be worth the wait!" When dad had told me that he wasn’t able to get any tickets I was crushed inside! I knew it wasn't his fault and that I couldn't act upset because I didn't want to make him feel bad. I guess I'll just have to settle for listening to the CD and staring at my poster for a while.
March 9, 2005,
Dad walked through the door, after another dia in court and ended up right in the center of an argument between Grace and me. I shouted "I didn't do it so; I shouldn't be on punishment for it!" Grace said "yes you did do it; I saw you." Dad asked confused "what's going on?" Grace said "she was hiding video games in her room so Prince couldn't play them. When I caught her taking them out of her dresser, she said that the games weren't even in the cases and when I looked in them every single game was in its case. Not only did she hide the games from Prince; but she also lied right to my face!" Dad looked at me and said "you know that one of the things that I just can't tolerate in this house is lying! Go up to your room. No Xbox for a week starting today."
I ran up the stairs and slammed my door. I opened the door back up and yelled down the stairs "you guys are ridiculous! All I did was lie and I can't use the Xbox for a whole week!” Dad walked up to my room and shut the door. He asked with a serious look on his face "do you want to make it two weeks with no Xbox?" I said "I don't really care at this point!" He said "alright; then I'll change it to a mês if you don't care." I said while in shock "I didn't agree to a whole month; I agreed to two weeks without it!" He said "that's not how it works! You don't get to pick and choose your punishment. You better stop talking back to me because I'll punish you from using the computer and watching TV!"
I didn't say a word as he left the room and he said "lose the attitude; neither Grace nor I deserve to hear that!" He shut the door and I turned my TV on. I whispered to myself "they both overreact way too much!" Even though deep down I knew I deserved to be in trouble!" Nine times out of ten I deserve it; whether or not I want to believe it!
March 15, 2005,
Today is my 11th birthday and dad is still at the courthouse but; said he would be início in about 20 minutes. I was downstairs doing my schoolwork and was about to walk down the hallway when Grace said "no; you can go down there until your dad gets home." I looked at her confused and went back to the cozinha to sit at the table.
Dad opened the door and up ran to me. He gave me a hug and said "happy birthday!" I said "thank you" and I put my books away on the bookshelf. He said "come on; let's all watch a movie together in the living room!" The two of us walked into the living room and he shielded my eyes. I asked "why are you covering my eyes?" He moved his hands out of the way and I couldn't believe my eyes. Standing in front of me was a life-size cardboard cutout of Jesse McCartney. I shrieked and said "oh my gosh; for a segundo I thought that was really him; not a cardboard cutout!" Everyone started laughing and dad said "sit down; I have something else for you!" I sat down on the couch; leaving a o espaço seguinte to me for dad to sit down. He passed me a big box and said "go ahead and open it!" Whatever was in the box weighed a lot! There must have been a whole roll of tape used on that box. I asked while they all laughed at me struggling to open the box "did you really have to use this much tape on it dad!"
I finally got the box open and the first thing I saw was two rolled up pieces of paper. I took them out and unraveled them. One of them was a new copy of the poster that Prince had drawn on and the other one was a different one of Jesse McCartney that was exactly the same size as the blue one. I said "thank you" and dad said "keep going; there's a whole bunch of stuff in there for you!" The seguinte thing I took out was 11 teen magazines like Tiger Beat and Bop. Dad said "one magazine for each ano you've been alive! I've been collecting them for about five months now.” One of the bodyguards named Will said "I've been the one to go buy those magazines and I can't even begin to tell you about some of those awkward looks I get being a grown man buying boy band magazines. It actually makes the cashiers laugh!" We all laughed and I started pulling out something else from the box. I grabbed two Jesse McCartney T-shirts and said "I'm going to wear these all the time!" One of the shirts said "Jesse McCartney: beautiful soul tour 2005." Dad said "since I couldn't get you the tickets; I figured I should buy you the tour T-shirt to try and make up for it!" I said "at least I can pretend that I got to go to the show, concerto when I wear this."
I hugged everyone and thanked them for the gifts. Dad said "I was so bummed when I couldn't buy you the regular tickets to the show, concerto because they sold-out so fast!" I said "that's all right; I know you tried." Dad said "I wasn't able to get you the tickets you wanted but; I hope what's inside this envelope will at least make waiting for the seguinte tour a little easier." I looked at him confused as he passed me the envelope. I looked inside and there was a folded piece of paper. I took it out and opened it up and dad said "read the part that I highlighted." I read it out loud "Jesse McCartney VIP experience package." I didn't understand what it was and said "oh that's cool; you got me another package of Jesse McCartney stuff that's coming in mail." Dad laughed and asked "you don't know what that is?" I said "yeah; it says right here that it's another Jesse McCartney package." He laughed even harder as he looked at Grace and said "she really doesn't know what it is!" I said "alright; what's going on? What's so funny? What is this piece of paper?" Grace said while gasping for air because she was laughing so hard "its tickets to a Jesse McCartney concert!" My mouth dropped and dad said "the seats are in the front row!" I was speechless and then he said "there's one mais tiny detail that I forgot to mention." I asked "what else could there possibly be?" Blanket, Prince, Paris, and Grace covered their ears. Dad said "guess what!" I said "what?" He said "you're going to meet Jesse McCartney at the concert!!!"
I think the entire family was expecting me to let out an ear piercing scream but; what I did seguinte shocked everyone including me. I started crying uncontrollably and shaking. Once dad realized that I was crying; not screaming, he asked "what's wrong? Why are you crying?" I said "I'm so happy! I never thought I'd actually get to meet Jesse!" He smiled and hugged me. He looked like he was about to cry because he had never seen me so happy in my life!" Grace removed her hands from her ears and said "I didn't see that reaction coming at all! You made your tough tomboy cry tears of joy Michael!" Dad said "I'm glad you like the tickets that much! Are they better in the regular tickets that you originally wanted?" I said in between sobs "so much better! Thank you so much dad!" He said as his voice broke from trying to hold back tears "you're welcome! You've got to stop crying though because you're going to make me cry! I knew you wanted the normal tickets badly but; never in 1 million years would I have thought that you would cry because you are so happy!"
After I composed myself; I asked "who's going to take me to the concert?" Grace said "I will be if your dad has court that dia but; if he doesn't he is going to take you." Dad said "now that you've stopped crying I have to tell you this. You better be on your best behavior between now and the dia of the show, concerto because if you really do something that I don't like… I'm going to sell those tickets faster than you can say Jesse McCartney! Do you understand that I'm not messing around when I say that? I'm hundred percent serious too! I guarantee you that there is another girl out there that would amor to meet Jesse also!" I said "I promise you; I'll be a whole different kid until after the concert! I don't want to lose the tickets! You saw how much they mean to me!" He hugged me and I said "I'm going to go upstairs and put my two big posters on the walls in my room! Then I'm going to take all the posters out of the magazines you got me and put those ones up also!" As I headed for the stairs; dad said "don't forget to bring your Jesse cardboard cutout and other stuff upstairs with you." I walked over and grabbed the cutout. I said "you're going to have to help me carry the T-shirts and magazines to my room because my hands are kind of full!" Dad tossed the two T-shirts, two big posters, and 11 magazines on my cama with a brand-new roll of tape and a pair of scissors. He shut the door behind him as he left and I pressed play on my "Jesse McCartney: beautiful soul" CD that was in my CD player. The first track "beautiful soul" started and I moved my cardboard cutout to a corner of my bedroom. Out of all the posters I got there was a total of 23 Jesse McCartney posters that I now have up on the walls of my bedroom! I think it's so funny when dad walks por my room and he gets startled por my cardboard cutout of Jesse because it really looks like he's standing in my room! This is por far the best birthday I've never had… It's going to be hard for dad to topo, início this one!
May 14, 2005,
I was chasing Prince around the house and dad walked through the door. Dad said "AJ; I need you to empty the dishwasher please." I said "I don't want to." He said "I wasn't asking you; I'm telling you to please empty the dishwasher for me." I grabbed the Xbox controller from Prince and dad said "I know you heard me AJ." I jumped over the back of the sofá and switched the batteries out of the controller. Dad looked at me and said "remember what I said about the Jesse McCartney tickets! You better do what I told you to do or I'm going to take them away from you!" I got a worried look on my face as I ran over to the dishwasher and started taking dishes out of it. He said "that's what I thought!!"
After I was done unloading the dishwasher, dad said "thank you; you need to go outside and take your bicycle and mover it out of the way because it's laying in the driveway and I don't want to have to buy you a new one. Someone could easily run it over!" I was about to say something when he raised his eyebrows and said "don't forget about the Jesse McCartney concert." I immediately ran outside and moved my bicycle out of the way. I came back inside and Grace said "I think that's the first time that AJ has done something without putting up a fight!"
I went upstairs to my room and about 20 minutos later dad came in. He said as he sat down on the edge of my cama "I just wanted to let you know that on June 15, the jury in my court case will decide whether they think I'm innocent or guilty." I said "I hope they come to their senses; it's obvious that Gavin is lying and I will be really mad if you get sent to jail because of him!" He said "I know; you just have to think as positively as possible and hope for the best." I said "alright; I amor you dad, I'm going to go to cama now." He said "I amor you mais and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon when I get home." He kissed my forehead and shut off the light as he passed me the remote to my TV.
June 15, 2005,
Today's the dia that we find out if dad is going to prison or not. Grace put a disney movie on in Blanket's bedroom to occupy my siblings. Grace and I went into the living room and put it on the channel that will be announcing the verdict on dad's case. It seemed like it took forever to get to the point where the jury had come to their decision. Finally; a woman walked outside the courthouse and said "we the jury in the above entitled case find the defendant, Michael Joseph Jackson…" I whispered to myself "come on; lady hurry up!" The woman said "not guilty on all accounts!" Grace hugged me and I said "he's coming home!"
10 minutos later, I heard the front door open and dad walked through it. I turned around, jumped over the back of the couch, and literally jumped into his arms. The both of us just started crying and he didn't even care that he was carrying me. I must've been heavy for him but; he didn't even notice. I said "don't ever scare me like that again!" All the emotions that I had been holding back for the entire trial just poured out right then and there! He wiped the tears off of my face and put me down on the counter top. He said "trust me; I'm not going to let anything like that happen again!" Blanket, Prince, and Paris came out into the living room to see what was going on. Dad hugged all three of them and blanket asked "why were you guys crying?" Dad said "never mind that; let's go watch a movie!"
While I was getting ready for bed; dad walked into my room and said "you must be excited for this weekend!" I looked at him confused and asked "why? What's this weekend?" He said "you forgot… It's the Jesse McCartney concert!" I said "oh yeah; so you have your disguise that you're going to wear when you take me to the concert?" He said "I'm just going to wear a really dark suéter, camisola and big sunglasses with a pair of faded jeans… No one will suspect that I would wear something like that!"
June 17, 2005,
I rushed to put on one of my Jesse McCartney shirts and dad and I ran out to the car. I had spiked my short blonde hair were some gel and dad sat in the drivers assento of the Rolls-Royce. This was one of the few times that my dad had driven us himself, instead of bringing a bodyguard along to the show, concerto because he didn't want to blow his disguise. I could barely contain my excitement as we pulled up to the show, concerto arena. Dad passed me a VIP lanyard and I put it around my neck. He put his on and we got out of the car.
"
We gave one of the staff members our tickets and he said "all VIP concertgoers need to line up over there. There is a guide that will take you where you need to be." We walked over and I was surprised that there was only a small group of fãs that would also be meeting Jesse. Then the guy brought us to a big room and we waited for Jesse to show up.
Jesse walked into the room about 40 feet away from the crowd of fans. I placed myself at the end of the line. When he finally got to me he whispered "hi Michael; it's nice to see you again!" Jesse looked down at me and said "you must be AJ!" I stuttered and said "hi Jesse, I amor you!" Jessie said "your dad told me that you have a bunch posters of me in your room!" I said "yeah; every time I see a magazine with you on the cover I buy it! I amor watching you on "summerland" that's my favorito show." He passed me a poster he signed and said "that's for you!" I said "thanks; I amor it!" He said "of course; anything for my number one fan. The security guards are telling me that I have to go get ready for the show now; I hope you enjoy it!" Dad said "wait one second; I've got to take a picture of the two together before you leave!" Jessie said "you can hug me if you want to!" I hugged him and said goodbye after dad the picture.
Dad and I made it to our front row seats just as they started rolling the introduction video. The Jumbotron read "get ready… 10, 9, scream, 8, 7, I can't hear you, 6, 5, it's time for, 4, 3, 2, 1… Jesse McCartney!" Jesse came on the stage and sang each song from his album. Then Jesse brought a girl that was in a wheelchair on stage and sang "take your sweet time" to her. That was dad's favorito part of the concert, just knowing that there is still a lot of celebrities out there that care about helping those in need as much is he does. My favorito part of the show, concerto was definitely getting to meet Jesse. This is the best dia of my life so far. I will never forget this day! Thank you so much dad only
January 30, 2005,
Tomorrow, the people versus Michael Jackson criminal trial begins and I am the only one out of us kids that knows what is going on. Dad had made me promise him that I wouldn't tell Prince, Paris, and Blanket what's going on because he doesn't want to scare them. It's really hard on me keeping such a big secret because underneath my fearless personality; I'm really scared! I do a pretty good job of hiding it though.
We are back in Los Angeles and are staying in a temporary rental house until the trial is over. I went down the hallway and into the living room. I sat down and turned on my Game Boy. Dad came into the room with Prince, Paris, and Blanket following him. I said "when he you guys doing?" He said "nothing much" and sat down seguinte to me on the couch. Prince sat down on the other side of me and asked "what are you playing?" I said "Pokémon Ruby" and turned the power off. Dad asked "are you sure that you don't have anything on your mind AJ?" I said as I went up to my room "yes dad; for the millionth time I'm fine!" He said "okay; I just wanted to make sure that you're okay with everything that's going on."
I shut the door and lay down on my bed. I flipped through the TV channels and change the channel to Nickelodeon. I took a deep breath and said to myself "I can't believe everything that's gone on in this past ano and it's all because of stupidity!" I opened up my dresser drawer and pulled out a fotografia album of pictures. Most of them taken a few months before Prince was born. As I flipped through the pages; I smiled at pictures of dad and I when I was just a few months away from turning three years old. I could hear Prince talking with Grace on the other side of my door and then I heard dad say "bye children, I'll see you in about four hours!"
He knocked on my door and asked "can I come in and spend the time with you for a while?" I said "yeah sure." He walked in and sat down on the bed. He dropped a big box in front of me and said "look what I found!" I looked inside and it was filled to the very topo, início in old VHS tapes. I asked "what do you have all of these for?" He said "it's a whole bunch of início filmes from when you were little and I thought you and I could watch them together. It might help get your mind off of things!" I was reluctant and he said "just watch a few at first… I'm telling you that it will make you feel better. Don't try to tell me that you aren't stressed out because I know you are! I always know when you are!" I asked "how did you know?" He said "I just know when my baby isn't doing well. It's part of being a dad." I rolled my eyes and said "dad; I'm almost 11 years old, I'm not a baby anymore!" He said "you may be getting older but you'll always be my baby!"
He put a videotape in the VCR and pressed the play button.
Video one:
Dated at the bottom of the screen: January, 8, 1996
We were in the living room at Neverland ranch and I was sitting on dad's lap. He started cantar "champion" por Queen. He would sing one lyric and I would sing the next. That went on for about five mais minutos before I got off his lap and started playing with the toy piano that was in the room. He zoomed the camera in on my face and said "you want to be just like just like me when you grow up, don't you?" I said "yes!"
(Dad paused the video and said "even back then you knew what you want it to be!" I said "I still don't see the point in watching this. If anything it's making me mais depressed! He said "just give me the benefit of the doubt please! That's all I ask." He switched videotapes and pressed play again as I rolled my eyes.)
Video two:
Dated at the bottom of the screen: February, 2, 1997
We were in a hotel and a woman behind the camera said "hi AJ!"
(I paused the video and asked dad "who's that holding the camera? I can tell por the voice that isn't Grace." He said "that Debbie. Do you remember her? It's been a long time since you've seen her." I said "yeah; I remember her. I always wondered why she stopped coming over every few months after Paris was born." He said "I'm sure that she is very busy but; you will see her again someday!")
I said "hi; I want to see" while pointing at the camera. She showed me what the camera was filming and then I ran off. The door opened and dad walked inside. He looked at the camera and at Debbie. He asked "you threw away that B – O – T – T – l – E you found last night, right? I don't want AJ to find it. I'm not ready to go into war all over again!" Debbie said "yeah; I thought you told me they you through all of those away a long time ago." He said "I did; I have no idea where she found that one last night! I had to spend 15 minutos convincing her to give it to me!"
I came into the room and said "I want a drink please." He said "okay; I'll get you one." He went over to the refrigerator and took a suco, suco de box out of it. He gave it to me and I threw it on the ground. He said "you're not getting what I know you want! It's that or nothing; understood?" I got mad and stormed off into the other room and he said "that's not going to get you anywhere and you know that." Debbie looked at him and asked "is she always this stubborn?" He said "this is nothing compared to most of her temper tantrums that she throws!" She said "I really don't know how you deal with that every single day. I wouldn't have the patience for it!" He said "its way worse when she knows that I want her to do something and she just 100% refuses to do it! That's the oppositional defiance disorder at its worst!
The video ended and dad said "that video brings back so many memories!" I rolled my eyes and said "oh gosh; please don't say anything embarrassing! Every time you say that you tell some embarrassing story to me about when I was little!" He said "right after Debbie was done filming that video…" I said "dad; if you're going to embarrass me please stop now!" He said "as I was saying; after she was done filming that video…” I said "seriously dad; why do you have to be so embarrassing all the time!" He said "I'm not trying to embarrass you but; I'm just having a hard time accepting that you're growing up." I said "yeah well; you need to accept it because there's nothing you can do about it! I'm not that two-year-old anymore!" He said "I think the only thing that needs to be accepted in the fact that you're scared and you don't want to admit it." I said "I don't know what you're talking about; I'm not scared at all!" He said "you're scared that at the end of this trial there is a chance that I might not come home. I know you're scared! You're not the only one; Grace is scared and so am I.” I said "okay dad; can you seriously leave my room now?" He said "fine but; you can't hide it forever! The longer you keep your feelings inside, the worse it will be in the long run."
February 10, 2005,
I can already tell that this trial is not going to be good on dad's health. He physically drained and all he does is sleep when he gets home. I can honestly say that I've never seen him like this in my entire life. I'm worried that if his trial lasts as long as he thinks it's going to; he is not going to be in the best shape por then.
It was 4 o'clock in the afternoon and dad walked through the door dressed in a suit and tie. He sat down on the sofá and he just looked so sad. I walked up to him and asked "are you okay dad?" He didn't answer me as tears filled his eyes. I hugged him and said "it'll be fine! You have to try and stay optimistic about things because that's all you really can do." He said "I know; I just didn't want it to come to all this!" I said "I know that this is hard for you and I'm going to do my best to be well-behaved while you are going to all of this! I can't make any promises though because you know how I am!" That made him laugh and he said "yeah; I have a feeling that won't last very long!"
Grace came into the room and hugged dad. Dad said "AJ; I promise that I will be the best father that I can possibly be; even with all this going on! Don't worry… I'm not checking out as your father. There is one thing that I would like of you guys though. Grace asked "what's that Michael?" He said "the segundo I walked through that door every day, we make a habit of not talking about the trial. It's easier on me that way! I said "that's fine with me! I don't like talking about it either, it's depressing." He said "the only time the three of us will talk about the trial beyond this point is if there is a bad outcome… I doubt and hope that there won't be a bad outcome."
February 16, 2005
Today is the start of the weekend so; dad doesn't have court for a few days. I went upstairs to get something out of my room and when I looked at my Jesse McCartney poster on my mural there was a mustache drawn on it. I ran downstairs and said "you're done for Prince!" Dad said "wait! What are you talking about?" Prince smiled and ran up to his room. I said "Prince drew all over my Jesse McCartney poster with a sharpie marker! He's really going to regret doing that in a few minutes!" Dad said "hey, just calm down; besides I'm not going to let you beat him up on my watch! That's not going to get you anywhere and you know that." I said "oh I see how it is! You're just going to let him get away with drawing on my poster!" He said "no; I didn't say that at all! I'll make him buy you a new one with money from his own piggy bank." I said "he deserves worse than that though!" Dad said "stop saying stuff like that! He's your brother and you need to be nice to him!"
I ran up to my room and dad followed me. I went to slam the door and he stopped it with his foot. I ripped the poster off my mural and sat down on the edge of my bed. He sat down seguinte to me and said "I'm not leaving here until you calm down. Ever since the trial started; you have been having outbursts. I know exactly what's wrong and you do too but; you're in denial about it!" I said "I'm not in denial about anything!" He said "yes you are! You're amargo, amarga and angry because you're scared! You need to talk about it because the longer you keep your feelings inside the worse it will be when you finally let them out." I said "I'm not scared of anything! Will you please leave me alone now! He said "this isn't about the poster at all; you just want to make it seem like it is!"
After about 20 minutos of waiting for me to talk to him, dad said as he threw his hands up in the air feeling defeated "fine if you don't want to talk to me; then don't! I'm here if you need me but; I'm done trying for now." He left my room and I stood in the doorway listening to a conversation between him and Grace from downstairs. Dad said "I don't know what else to do! I know all Alanna needs to do is cry! I don't know if she's specifically mad at me or mad at this whole situation in the first place. She won't talk to me about anything. I can tell por the look in her eyes that she is absolutely terrified of what's going to happen to me at the end of this trial." Grace asked "have you thought about where the children would end up if you went to prison?" He said "well; Blanket, Paris, and Prince would live with my mother. I haven't talked to her about the situation with AJ because honestly I don't think she can handle Alanna's ADHD and oppositional defiance disorder!" Grace said "if I can't handle her there's no way your elderly mother is going to be able to! I mean you yourself can barely deal with her!" He said "look at how red she turned and that was just because Prince colored on her poster! I'm worried that as AJ gets older it's going to get physical one of these times! He said "you know that I would never hurt her. I don't care if she hurts me but; when she's that angry it's hard to calm her down before the situation escalates!" Grace said "I just hope that it never reaches that point!"
March 1, 2005,
I was in the cozinha of our rental início in Los Angeles and dad had just put my brothers and sister to bed. I said as I put dishes in the sink "I wish that the Jesse McCartney tickets were not sold out when you looked at them when you got início today! Are you sure all of the tickets are sold out?" He said "I promise you; ALL the tickets for the Beautiful Soul tour are gone! You're just going to have to wait until he goes on tour when the seguinte CD comes out. I'm sorry; I really did try to get them for you. Since I had to go to court today, I had Grace go online the segundo the tickets went on sale but; por the time she filled out the shipping address for the tickets they were all sold out." I said "well; at least you tried! I hope it doesn't take Jesse too long to come out with a new album."
Dad got up from his chair and walked over to hug me. I said "I'm going to go listen to my Jesse McCartney CD before I lie down and watch TV until I fall asleep." He said as I walked up the stairs "I'm sorry AJ… I know how bad you wanted those tickets!" I said as I shut my bedroom door "it's fine dad; I'm not mad at you. The seguinte tour will definitely be worth the wait!" When dad had told me that he wasn’t able to get any tickets I was crushed inside! I knew it wasn't his fault and that I couldn't act upset because I didn't want to make him feel bad. I guess I'll just have to settle for listening to the CD and staring at my poster for a while.
March 9, 2005,
Dad walked through the door, after another dia in court and ended up right in the center of an argument between Grace and me. I shouted "I didn't do it so; I shouldn't be on punishment for it!" Grace said "yes you did do it; I saw you." Dad asked confused "what's going on?" Grace said "she was hiding video games in her room so Prince couldn't play them. When I caught her taking them out of her dresser, she said that the games weren't even in the cases and when I looked in them every single game was in its case. Not only did she hide the games from Prince; but she also lied right to my face!" Dad looked at me and said "you know that one of the things that I just can't tolerate in this house is lying! Go up to your room. No Xbox for a week starting today."
I ran up the stairs and slammed my door. I opened the door back up and yelled down the stairs "you guys are ridiculous! All I did was lie and I can't use the Xbox for a whole week!” Dad walked up to my room and shut the door. He asked with a serious look on his face "do you want to make it two weeks with no Xbox?" I said "I don't really care at this point!" He said "alright; then I'll change it to a mês if you don't care." I said while in shock "I didn't agree to a whole month; I agreed to two weeks without it!" He said "that's not how it works! You don't get to pick and choose your punishment. You better stop talking back to me because I'll punish you from using the computer and watching TV!"
I didn't say a word as he left the room and he said "lose the attitude; neither Grace nor I deserve to hear that!" He shut the door and I turned my TV on. I whispered to myself "they both overreact way too much!" Even though deep down I knew I deserved to be in trouble!" Nine times out of ten I deserve it; whether or not I want to believe it!
March 15, 2005,
Today is my 11th birthday and dad is still at the courthouse but; said he would be início in about 20 minutes. I was downstairs doing my schoolwork and was about to walk down the hallway when Grace said "no; you can go down there until your dad gets home." I looked at her confused and went back to the cozinha to sit at the table.
Dad opened the door and up ran to me. He gave me a hug and said "happy birthday!" I said "thank you" and I put my books away on the bookshelf. He said "come on; let's all watch a movie together in the living room!" The two of us walked into the living room and he shielded my eyes. I asked "why are you covering my eyes?" He moved his hands out of the way and I couldn't believe my eyes. Standing in front of me was a life-size cardboard cutout of Jesse McCartney. I shrieked and said "oh my gosh; for a segundo I thought that was really him; not a cardboard cutout!" Everyone started laughing and dad said "sit down; I have something else for you!" I sat down on the couch; leaving a o espaço seguinte to me for dad to sit down. He passed me a big box and said "go ahead and open it!" Whatever was in the box weighed a lot! There must have been a whole roll of tape used on that box. I asked while they all laughed at me struggling to open the box "did you really have to use this much tape on it dad!"
I finally got the box open and the first thing I saw was two rolled up pieces of paper. I took them out and unraveled them. One of them was a new copy of the poster that Prince had drawn on and the other one was a different one of Jesse McCartney that was exactly the same size as the blue one. I said "thank you" and dad said "keep going; there's a whole bunch of stuff in there for you!" The seguinte thing I took out was 11 teen magazines like Tiger Beat and Bop. Dad said "one magazine for each ano you've been alive! I've been collecting them for about five months now.” One of the bodyguards named Will said "I've been the one to go buy those magazines and I can't even begin to tell you about some of those awkward looks I get being a grown man buying boy band magazines. It actually makes the cashiers laugh!" We all laughed and I started pulling out something else from the box. I grabbed two Jesse McCartney T-shirts and said "I'm going to wear these all the time!" One of the shirts said "Jesse McCartney: beautiful soul tour 2005." Dad said "since I couldn't get you the tickets; I figured I should buy you the tour T-shirt to try and make up for it!" I said "at least I can pretend that I got to go to the show, concerto when I wear this."
I hugged everyone and thanked them for the gifts. Dad said "I was so bummed when I couldn't buy you the regular tickets to the show, concerto because they sold-out so fast!" I said "that's all right; I know you tried." Dad said "I wasn't able to get you the tickets you wanted but; I hope what's inside this envelope will at least make waiting for the seguinte tour a little easier." I looked at him confused as he passed me the envelope. I looked inside and there was a folded piece of paper. I took it out and opened it up and dad said "read the part that I highlighted." I read it out loud "Jesse McCartney VIP experience package." I didn't understand what it was and said "oh that's cool; you got me another package of Jesse McCartney stuff that's coming in mail." Dad laughed and asked "you don't know what that is?" I said "yeah; it says right here that it's another Jesse McCartney package." He laughed even harder as he looked at Grace and said "she really doesn't know what it is!" I said "alright; what's going on? What's so funny? What is this piece of paper?" Grace said while gasping for air because she was laughing so hard "its tickets to a Jesse McCartney concert!" My mouth dropped and dad said "the seats are in the front row!" I was speechless and then he said "there's one mais tiny detail that I forgot to mention." I asked "what else could there possibly be?" Blanket, Prince, Paris, and Grace covered their ears. Dad said "guess what!" I said "what?" He said "you're going to meet Jesse McCartney at the concert!!!"
I think the entire family was expecting me to let out an ear piercing scream but; what I did seguinte shocked everyone including me. I started crying uncontrollably and shaking. Once dad realized that I was crying; not screaming, he asked "what's wrong? Why are you crying?" I said "I'm so happy! I never thought I'd actually get to meet Jesse!" He smiled and hugged me. He looked like he was about to cry because he had never seen me so happy in my life!" Grace removed her hands from her ears and said "I didn't see that reaction coming at all! You made your tough tomboy cry tears of joy Michael!" Dad said "I'm glad you like the tickets that much! Are they better in the regular tickets that you originally wanted?" I said in between sobs "so much better! Thank you so much dad!" He said as his voice broke from trying to hold back tears "you're welcome! You've got to stop crying though because you're going to make me cry! I knew you wanted the normal tickets badly but; never in 1 million years would I have thought that you would cry because you are so happy!"
After I composed myself; I asked "who's going to take me to the concert?" Grace said "I will be if your dad has court that dia but; if he doesn't he is going to take you." Dad said "now that you've stopped crying I have to tell you this. You better be on your best behavior between now and the dia of the show, concerto because if you really do something that I don't like… I'm going to sell those tickets faster than you can say Jesse McCartney! Do you understand that I'm not messing around when I say that? I'm hundred percent serious too! I guarantee you that there is another girl out there that would amor to meet Jesse also!" I said "I promise you; I'll be a whole different kid until after the concert! I don't want to lose the tickets! You saw how much they mean to me!" He hugged me and I said "I'm going to go upstairs and put my two big posters on the walls in my room! Then I'm going to take all the posters out of the magazines you got me and put those ones up also!" As I headed for the stairs; dad said "don't forget to bring your Jesse cardboard cutout and other stuff upstairs with you." I walked over and grabbed the cutout. I said "you're going to have to help me carry the T-shirts and magazines to my room because my hands are kind of full!" Dad tossed the two T-shirts, two big posters, and 11 magazines on my cama with a brand-new roll of tape and a pair of scissors. He shut the door behind him as he left and I pressed play on my "Jesse McCartney: beautiful soul" CD that was in my CD player. The first track "beautiful soul" started and I moved my cardboard cutout to a corner of my bedroom. Out of all the posters I got there was a total of 23 Jesse McCartney posters that I now have up on the walls of my bedroom! I think it's so funny when dad walks por my room and he gets startled por my cardboard cutout of Jesse because it really looks like he's standing in my room! This is por far the best birthday I've never had… It's going to be hard for dad to topo, início this one!
May 14, 2005,
I was chasing Prince around the house and dad walked through the door. Dad said "AJ; I need you to empty the dishwasher please." I said "I don't want to." He said "I wasn't asking you; I'm telling you to please empty the dishwasher for me." I grabbed the Xbox controller from Prince and dad said "I know you heard me AJ." I jumped over the back of the sofá and switched the batteries out of the controller. Dad looked at me and said "remember what I said about the Jesse McCartney tickets! You better do what I told you to do or I'm going to take them away from you!" I got a worried look on my face as I ran over to the dishwasher and started taking dishes out of it. He said "that's what I thought!!"
After I was done unloading the dishwasher, dad said "thank you; you need to go outside and take your bicycle and mover it out of the way because it's laying in the driveway and I don't want to have to buy you a new one. Someone could easily run it over!" I was about to say something when he raised his eyebrows and said "don't forget about the Jesse McCartney concert." I immediately ran outside and moved my bicycle out of the way. I came back inside and Grace said "I think that's the first time that AJ has done something without putting up a fight!"
I went upstairs to my room and about 20 minutos later dad came in. He said as he sat down on the edge of my cama "I just wanted to let you know that on June 15, the jury in my court case will decide whether they think I'm innocent or guilty." I said "I hope they come to their senses; it's obvious that Gavin is lying and I will be really mad if you get sent to jail because of him!" He said "I know; you just have to think as positively as possible and hope for the best." I said "alright; I amor you dad, I'm going to go to cama now." He said "I amor you mais and I'll see you tomorrow afternoon when I get home." He kissed my forehead and shut off the light as he passed me the remote to my TV.
June 15, 2005,
Today's the dia that we find out if dad is going to prison or not. Grace put a disney movie on in Blanket's bedroom to occupy my siblings. Grace and I went into the living room and put it on the channel that will be announcing the verdict on dad's case. It seemed like it took forever to get to the point where the jury had come to their decision. Finally; a woman walked outside the courthouse and said "we the jury in the above entitled case find the defendant, Michael Joseph Jackson…" I whispered to myself "come on; lady hurry up!" The woman said "not guilty on all accounts!" Grace hugged me and I said "he's coming home!"
10 minutos later, I heard the front door open and dad walked through it. I turned around, jumped over the back of the couch, and literally jumped into his arms. The both of us just started crying and he didn't even care that he was carrying me. I must've been heavy for him but; he didn't even notice. I said "don't ever scare me like that again!" All the emotions that I had been holding back for the entire trial just poured out right then and there! He wiped the tears off of my face and put me down on the counter top. He said "trust me; I'm not going to let anything like that happen again!" Blanket, Prince, and Paris came out into the living room to see what was going on. Dad hugged all three of them and blanket asked "why were you guys crying?" Dad said "never mind that; let's go watch a movie!"
While I was getting ready for bed; dad walked into my room and said "you must be excited for this weekend!" I looked at him confused and asked "why? What's this weekend?" He said "you forgot… It's the Jesse McCartney concert!" I said "oh yeah; so you have your disguise that you're going to wear when you take me to the concert?" He said "I'm just going to wear a really dark suéter, camisola and big sunglasses with a pair of faded jeans… No one will suspect that I would wear something like that!"
June 17, 2005,
I rushed to put on one of my Jesse McCartney shirts and dad and I ran out to the car. I had spiked my short blonde hair were some gel and dad sat in the drivers assento of the Rolls-Royce. This was one of the few times that my dad had driven us himself, instead of bringing a bodyguard along to the show, concerto because he didn't want to blow his disguise. I could barely contain my excitement as we pulled up to the show, concerto arena. Dad passed me a VIP lanyard and I put it around my neck. He put his on and we got out of the car.
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We gave one of the staff members our tickets and he said "all VIP concertgoers need to line up over there. There is a guide that will take you where you need to be." We walked over and I was surprised that there was only a small group of fãs that would also be meeting Jesse. Then the guy brought us to a big room and we waited for Jesse to show up.
Jesse walked into the room about 40 feet away from the crowd of fans. I placed myself at the end of the line. When he finally got to me he whispered "hi Michael; it's nice to see you again!" Jesse looked down at me and said "you must be AJ!" I stuttered and said "hi Jesse, I amor you!" Jessie said "your dad told me that you have a bunch posters of me in your room!" I said "yeah; every time I see a magazine with you on the cover I buy it! I amor watching you on "summerland" that's my favorito show." He passed me a poster he signed and said "that's for you!" I said "thanks; I amor it!" He said "of course; anything for my number one fan. The security guards are telling me that I have to go get ready for the show now; I hope you enjoy it!" Dad said "wait one second; I've got to take a picture of the two together before you leave!" Jessie said "you can hug me if you want to!" I hugged him and said goodbye after dad the picture.
Dad and I made it to our front row seats just as they started rolling the introduction video. The Jumbotron read "get ready… 10, 9, scream, 8, 7, I can't hear you, 6, 5, it's time for, 4, 3, 2, 1… Jesse McCartney!" Jesse came on the stage and sang each song from his album. Then Jesse brought a girl that was in a wheelchair on stage and sang "take your sweet time" to her. That was dad's favorito part of the concert, just knowing that there is still a lot of celebrities out there that care about helping those in need as much is he does. My favorito part of the show, concerto was definitely getting to meet Jesse. This is the best dia of my life so far. I will never forget this day! Thank you so much dad only