Checks
...ter Jr., or just Junior, as he would come to be called. Over the next six years Lawrence Sr. kept his son at arms length, and never looked him in the bright green eyes he had inherited from his mother. Junior was sent to a boarding school as soon as he was of age. He often received gifts from his father, but never anything personal. Never a letter or card. Lawrence could not be around his son without feeling regret for replacing his wife. He sent Junior to a military academy at the age of eleven, leaving him to spend the first eighteen years of his life feeling alone and rejected. Upon Junior’s graduation, Lawrence realized the loneliness he had caused his son, and he had an epiphany. In his blundered attempt to make amends, Lawrence bought Junior a shiny new Cadillac, that Junior later crashed into a neighbor’s tree, leaving his father with the bill. Lawrence, unable to get through to his son, poured his grief into his daily piano lessons with Miss Daisy Windsor, an old friend of his wife’s. In 1923, Junior was sent to fight the war in France, where he met his fiancée, Marie. Three years later, after completing his service, Junior returned to California to continue his education and pursue his courting of Marie. Back at home his father started his first serious relationship, after his wife, with Daisy. In 1926, after completing his education at Stanford University, Junior announced his engagement to Marie. Lawrence jumped at this opportunity to bond with his son, and put a down payment on Junior and Marie’s new home, and hired professionals to design the inside. Still feeling guilty about Junior’s lonely childhood, Lawrence paid for the wedding, the honeymoon, and gave the happy couple $200,000 to start their new life. Junior’s marriage had a smooth start, and he acted as though he was still courting Marie, buying her flowers and gowns every chance he got. They both loved the outdoors, and spent countless hours skiing in the mountains. They were a happy, Hollywood couple, expecting a child, until an unfortunate skiing accident caused a miscarriage, and tore their marriage apart. Junior was unable to cope with the loss of his only child, and turned to drugs he could buy from Tony Spagoni, an old army friend with mob connections. He tried to hide his habit by buying his wi...