Alan Goldstein和妻子Lynn還記得他們曾經為一次全家到百慕大的旅行計畫而忙地不可開交，他們的小兒子Brock,和他最要好的玩伴Mac也會一起去。一個偶然的機會，夫婦倆“偷聽到”兩個小孩子在電話上商量這次旅行還會參與的一個神秘角色。
就這樣，流行樂巨星Michael Jackson出現在百慕大的旅店裏——在他們面前，鼻子上還貼著膠布。那張全世界都認識的臉上帶著羞澀的笑容，到處都是持槍的保鏢、高級轎車、在VIP包間的床上散落著發出臭味的玩具炸彈。
很高興見到你，Goldstein寒暄著，說著一些初次見面的客套話。
事情已過去了14年，但就像永不褪色的明信片，Goldstein家的那次旅行現在被完全展示在加州一法庭的12位素昧平生的陪審員面前，以供他們仔細審察。
再一次地，Michael Jackson突然之間又與一個酒店管理人員的生活絞在一起，還有他的教員妻子和他們的孩子，孩子現在已經24歲了，做酒吧招待。他們都認為整件事情很“瘋狂”。
但Michael Jackson兒童性騷擾案的陪審員最近聽到的有關那家人在百慕大怎樣度過的一周時間描述和Goldstein先生的回憶陳述，卻被證明這個故事有兩個完全不同的版本，其中之一是一個貪婪狡猾的捕掠者用一枚昂貴的金表引誘無辜男童，另一個就是一個內心孤獨的名流為了找回失去的童年和小夥伴們扔水球，打水仗。
這個超現實主義的故事始於Goldstein，一個奧蘭多的臨時演員偶然在電影片場認識Macaulay Culkin，而他的兒子和同為10歲的小影星很快成為好朋友。而在Macaulay Culkin的電影《小鬼當家》上映之後，Culkin結識了另一個朋友：Michael Jackson。
“這聽起來很好笑。介意我一起去嗎？”Culkin還記得當他向Michael Jackson提到將會與好朋友Brock到百慕大去玩時，Michael Jackson所說過的話。
儘管檢方之後指稱Michael Jackson破壞了別人的旅行，但Alan Goldstein回憶到旅店迎來Michael Jackson先生都是他們開始遊玩後的好幾天了。
這位世界上唱片銷量最好的歌手給Goldstein打來電話，說“我想休息一二，”Jackson解釋說。“你不介意住這兒吧？”於是Goldstein趕忙去尋找一套配得上Michael Jackson的住處，焦頭爛額。 D
Michael Jackson又打電話告之，大家的住處已經安排好了，兩套都在奢侈的漢密爾頓公主酒店。
Goldstein倒抽一口冷氣，不得不承認“我可付不起那麼昂貴的房錢。”Michael Jackson保證：“不用擔心，一切我來負責。”#
現年60歲的Goldstein在拉斯維加斯的家中接受電話採訪時回憶道，“第二天，Michael Jackson亮相的時候，是他標準的行頭：紅色襯衣，黑色褲子，黃色襪子，和寬邊的帽子。”Michael Jackson邀請這一大幫子人到他的豪華包間。
“Michael Jackson那時帶著一個巨大的箱子，他把它仍在床上，打開。”Goldstein回憶到。
他就像一個買玩具的。有水槍，有賽車，有特別的口香糖，這種口香糖能讓你的舌頭變黑，還有泡泡糖。
當Lynn Goldstein跟在他們後面拖地時，看到兩個大人和兩個孩子，在房間裏你追我我追我玩得不亦樂乎！Goldstein先生回憶說那時候大家——大人和孩子——玩得真是無比快樂。生性善良的Lynn Goldstein形容“那真是一場惡夢啊”。
當時Michael Jackson是獨自一人去的百慕大，Lynn則扮演代理經理人的角色，負責這位巨星的一日三餐都是素食，同時免受歌迷的打擾。然而Michael Jackson的行蹤卻吸引到當地和全球各國的大批媒體。7
在將近兩周的時間裏，不管是在最初的百慕大還是在後來的位於奧蘭多的狄斯奈樂園，Goldstein一家人和一個他們認為既奇怪又絕妙的贊助者沉浸在另外一個名氣的世界裏。
但出了美國，日子就變得不再那麼陽光明媚了。他們只能在晚上享受快樂，白天很少外出，以免Michael Jackson和Culkin遭到騷擾。午夜2點過後，再到游泳池玩耍；在自己的包間裏用餐，而不是在寬敞的餐廳裏；等人群都離去之後再去逛商店等等。
Michael Jackson想盡辦法試圖彌補給朋友們造成的不便之處。
Alan Goldstein 說：“我們曾經說到潛水是多麼地好玩，接下來我們就有了一艘自己的船，還有經驗豐富的人教我們如何潛水。”:
當那家人想看酒店裏的某個節目時，演出團便在深夜1點專門為他們表演一場，觀眾席上只有他們。Alan Goldstein說：“節目裏甚至有Michael Jackson的模仿者，雖然看上去有些笨拙，但Michael感覺還不糟。”)
Brock Goldstein還記得“一生中不可能再有的激動”就是他最喜歡的歌手突然之間成了他的好夥伴。他還記得Michael Jackson掏出一個小小的鐳射燈，把孩子們叫到陽臺上，用燈光照射街上迷惑不解的人們。
“我們還叫那些人跟著燈光走。”Brock回憶道，“我們會大聲喊:‘跟著紅色的燈走，跟著紅色的燈走，那兒有為你準備的禮物。瞧，不是一個紅氣球嗎？’我們還會把水球扔向各自的目標，然後藏在陽臺裏面，都笑得都直不起腰了。”
這群愛玩的人又來到奧蘭多，也就是Goldstein一家人居住的地方，在迪士尼的賓館裏呆上一個星期，好好享受狄斯奈樂園的樂趣。
隨著一個個夏天過去，Goldstein一家人與Michael Jackson和Culkin失去了以往的聯繫，但仍然珍藏著大家在一起的照片。
當這個星期度假結束，他們回到家時，卻收到來自聖芭芭拉拉縣治安部調查員的電話錄音，他想知道什麼，他們並不清楚。但他們的名字已經成為了Michael Joe Jackson案子的記錄的一部分。
檢舉人（加州法律允許這樣做）從Michael Jackson從前的案子中引入證據，哪怕是並沒有證明屬實的證據，來支持現在的案子：Michael Jackson對一個十三歲，身患癌症的男童進行了性騷擾。Culkin在上周已出庭接受檢辯雙方的盤詰。他有沒有在Michael Jackson的床上睡過覺？他有沒有與Michael Jackson在沒有女性在場的情況下獨處過？還有，他們想知道那次到百慕大旅行的更多細節。 Culkin斬釘截鐵地回答：完全清白。
檢方對Culkin的提問中暗示Goldstein一家人對Michael Jackson實際上是很警覺的。當Michael Jackson送給Culkin一枚刻有“Michael Jackson送上”的昂貴勞力士手錶時，家人沒有表示這種行為是不合適的嗎。Culkin的回答是：沒有。
而Goldstein一家人也是同樣的答案。
他們也不同意檢方關於在百慕大期間Michael Jackson還帶著Mac單獨外出的描述。Lynn Goldstein明確指出：“這種事情從來沒有發生過。” Lynn Goldstein現年61歲，她的回憶與他的丈夫還有他們的孩子以及Culkin的證詞都完全一致。另外，Goldstein一家人還抱怨說，在把他們當年的度假故事加入到現在的這起刑事審判中之前，沒有人願意翻新來過問一下他們到底發生了什麼。
在1993年孌童指控浮現後，當時的調查人員則通過電話詢問過他們。. ~: W9 R:
他們說，‘我們找到了一個受害者，我們相信他，我們要逮住[Jackson]，他符合那些罪行。’我卻不愛聽。我想要知道他們有什麼證據。”Lynn Goldstein回憶道。她在今天重複了當年她告訴他們的話：什麼不合適的事情都沒有發生，孩子們睡在Goldstein自家的包間裏，而Michael Jackson睡在另一個隔開的包間裏。而Michael Jackson也“從來沒有試圖單獨帶走孩子”。男孩子們有時會像兄弟姐妹那樣在他面前來爭寵，但Michael Jackson從來都是站出來說“不”的那個人，他說“我們要一起玩，大家一起。”
Lynn Goldstein以前是Laurel高中的老師，後來在佛羅里達任教，專門提到，她很清楚兒童虐待的特徵，“而我在任何情況下都會及時報案。”她對Michael Jackson的感覺卻是遺憾，而不是恐懼。
她回憶，在百慕大時，有一次與Michael Jackson聊天，Michael Jackson很急切地說到：“你知道，孩子們和大人不一樣。孩子是誠實的，你能信任他們。我還從來沒有遇到哪個成年人只想當我的朋友而不是想從我身上得到什麼。”
Brock Goldstein這樣描述Michael Jackson：“他就像是我們中的一員。”Michael Jackson現在46歲了，但當時在百慕大玩耍時天真的滑稽動作還讓孩子們記憶猶新。“我完全理解這是因為他沒有童年。很顯然，他就不是一個平常人。他的成長被扭曲了。”
就像他的父母一樣，Brock也討厭被問及一些針對當年那段美好回憶的惡毒問題。“我想言畢於此，但同時，如果人們要無中生有，這就有必要澄清了。”Brock表示沒有能比得上那個神奇的夏天，與世界上最傑出的流行樂巨星一起遊玩。( T! “我的意思是，從這件事你能推測出什麼呢？”他想知道。
更重要的是，誰在深究呢？
washingtonpost.com
Fantasy Island
A Family's Bermuda Vacation Was Transformed by Michael Jackson
By Tamara Jones
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 19, 2005; C01
Alan Goldstein and his wife, Lynn, remember they were busy getting ready to take a nice family vacation with their youngest son, Brock, and his best pal, Mac, when they overheard Brock on the phone with Mac, saying something to the effect of yeah, sure, bring him along, too.
This is how pop superstar Michael Jackson appeared at their hotel in Bermuda with a bandage on his nose, a shy smile on his famous face, and a trunkful of squirt guns, race cars and stink bombs on his bed in the VIP suite.
Nice to meet you, the Goldsteins said, or something to that effect.
Fourteen years have passed, but like some postcard from the edge, the Goldsteins' vacation has now come under the scrutiny of 12 strangers sitting in a California jury box.
And once again, Michael Jackson has popped into the lives of a hotel executive, his teacher wife and their son, now a 24-year-old bartender who finds it all "just so crazy."
But what the jury in Jackson's child molestation trial recently heard about that week in Bermuda and what the Goldsteins remember prove to be two entirely different stories: One evokes the image of a creepy predator using a gold Rolex to bait a starstruck kid; the other, of a lonely celebrity trying to reclaim a forsaken childhood by lobbing water balloons at tourists.
The surreal island idyll began when Brock Goldstein, a sometime actor in Orlando , met Macaulay Culkin on a movie set and the two 10-year-olds became fast friends. After his hit "Home Alone" was released that year, Mac Culkin made another new friend, as well: Michael Jackson.
"That sounds like fun. Mind if I tag along?" Culkin would remember Jackson saying when he mentioned the upcoming Bermuda trip with his buddy Brock.
Although prosecutors would later suggest that Jackson crashed the party, Alan Goldstein recalls that the family had been in Bermuda for a few days and had just gotten off their mopeds when the hotel relayed a message to please call "Mr. M. Jackson."
The world's best-selling voice came on the other line. "Well, I just need a break," Jackson explained. "Would you mind?" Goldstein, who grew up in Wheaton, started scrambling to find suitable quarters, until Jackson called back and said he had it all arranged -- two suites at the luxe Hamilton Princess. Goldstein swallowed hard.
"I can't afford that," he admitted.
"Don't worry," Jackson assured him, "everything's on me."
He turned up the next day in "his standard red shirt, black pants, yellow socks and wide-brim hat," Goldstein, now 60, recalled in a telephone interview from his home in Las Vegas . Jackson invited the gang up to his suite.
"He'd brought this huge trunk. He threw it up on the bed and opened it up," Goldstein says. "It looked like he'd raided a Toys R Us. He's got water guns, race cars, chewing gum that made your mouth turn black, snap-and-pops . . . "
While Lynn Goldstein mopped up behind them with Turkish towels, the two grown men and two small boys raced around the suite in a Supersoaker war.
It was great fun, the Goldstein menfolk now reminisce.
"It was a nightmare" is how Lynn good-naturedly puts it.
Jackson came to Bermuda alone, and the role of surrogate-manager fell to Lynn, who made sure the star's meals were vegetarian and that hotel management kept away fans. Jackson 's trip made the local press, and then the international media.
For nearly two weeks, first in Bermuda and then back in Orlando at Disney World, the Goldsteins found themselves immersed in the other world of stardom with a benefactor they considered both weird and wonderful.
But with Jackson on board, dreams of sunny days on the beach disappeared, and they all became Vacationers of the Night, venturing out in the wee hours to protect Jackson and Culkin from being mobbed. That meant 2 a .m. dips in the hotel pool, room service instead of restaurants, shopping trips arranged after stores closed to the public.
Jackson tried to compensate for the inconveniences.
"We were talking one day about how it might be fun to try diving," Alan Goldstein said, "and next thing you know, we've got a dive boat to ourselves with some dive masters to teach us."
When the family wanted to see a variety show at one of the island's resort hotels, the cast put on a private performance at 1 in the morning in an otherwise empty auditorium, the Goldsteins said. "There was a Michael Jackson impersonator, which was a little awkward, but Michael was fine with it," says Alan Goldstein.
Brock Goldstein remembers the "once-in-your-lifetime" excitement of his favorite music star suddenly becoming a playmate. He remembers Jackson pulling out a small laser light and taking the boys out on the balcony to shine the beam down on bewildered beachgoers.
"We'd try to get them to follow it," Brock recalls. "We'd be calling out: 'Follow the red liiiiight, follow the red liiiight. The red light has a present for you! Look, it's a red balloon!' " The three would then hurl water balloons at their targets, ducking behind the balcony to collapse in laughter.
The vacationers headed back to Orlando , where the Goldsteins then lived, and holed up in separate suites at a Disney World hotel to enjoy the theme park for a week.
Summer after summer drifted by. The Goldsteins tucked away their photo albums and lost touch with both Jackson and Culkin.
They returned from vacation this week to find a phone message from a Santa Barbara County sheriff's investigator. What he wants they're not sure. But their names have already become part of the court record in People v. Michael Joe Jackson .
Prosecutors -- allowed under California law to introduce unproven allegations from Jackson 's past to bolster the present charge that he fondled a 13-year-old cancer survivor -- cross-examined Culkin last week. Had he not slept in Michael Jackson's bed? Had he not spent unchaperoned hours with Jackson at his Neverland ranch? And what, they wanted to know, about that trip to Bermuda ? All perfectly innocent, Culkin asserts.
The prosecution team would suggest in their questions to Culkin that the Goldsteins had been wary of Jackson . Had they not confronted him about the inappropriateness of giving the child a Rolex when he greeted Culkin with one engraved "From Michael Jackson"? Culkin drew a blank.
So do the Goldsteins.
Nor do they agree with the prosecution's portrayal of them putting their foot down over Jackson taking Mac on private side-trips in Bermuda . "That never happened," declares Lynn Goldstein, now 61, her recollection mirroring those of her husband, her son and Culkin when he took the witness stand. Further, the Goldsteins complain, no one bothered to ask them what happened before making their vacation a footnote in a major criminal trial.
Investigators did question them back in 1993, they said, after allegations surfaced that Jackson had molested a young boy.
"They said, 'We have a victim, we believe him, and we're going to get [ Jackson ]. He fits the profile.' I didn't like that. I wanted to know what evidence they had," Lynn Goldstein recalls. She told them then what she repeats today: Nothing improper ever happened, the kids slept in their own room in the Goldstein suite on a separate floor from Jackson 's, and Jackson "never once tried to get the guys alone. The boys would have sort of like sibling rivalry over his attention, and Michael's the one who would step up and say no, we're doing things together, with all of us."
As a teacher at Laurel High School , and then later in Florida , Lynn Goldstein noted, she knew the warning signs of child abuse, and "I've even had to report it on occasion." She felt sorry for Jackson , not frightened.
During one conversation in Bermuda, she recalled, Jackson turned to her and said wistfully: "'You know, kids are different than adults. Kids are honest with you. You can trust them. I haven't met an adult who has been my friend without ending up wanting something from me.' "
"He was like one of us," Brock Goldstein says of Jackson , now 46, and his childlike antics in Bermuda . "It makes perfect sense to me because he never had a childhood. Obviously he's not normal. He had a twisted upbringing."
Like his parents, he hates the sinister questions being raised now about a fond memory. "I'd like to be done with it, but at the same time, if people are saying things we didn't say, it needs to be cleared up," Brock says. He figures nothing will ever top that magical summer when he hung out with the biggest pop star in the world.
"I mean, where do you go from there?" he wonders.
And more to the point, who comes along?
沒有留言:
張貼留言