When my son and godson were about 12, I drove us in my gorgeous, red (leaning toward maroon) convertible Mustang down to Southern California and went on a Marilyn Monroe escapade. We found the house in a quiet cul de sac in Brentwood. It had a gate that was blocked with white, slick canvas tied across it. So, naturally after ringing the bell....we climbed over it. We walked all over the backyard, tried to see through the windows, but they were more impenetrable than the gate. I found a rose bush that had tiny fragrant roses and one ended up in my hand as well as a brick of Mexican tile from a pile in the back of the house. My godson was filming as we explored (which was no surprise, since his father is a filmmaker).

Suddenly the bell at the gate rang and we ran around like confused cockroaches in abrupt light. (My godson must have broken the record for most "F" bombs dropped by a 12 year old in the space of 10 seconds!) We ran down a hill rife with bamboo and figured we could escape at the bottom....but no, there was only a tall cinder block wall covered with a facade of jail bars of thick bamboo. We had to go face the music....When we got back to the front yard there was a man and woman standing outside the gate (probably contemplating the best way to scale it). My guys and I were standing there waiting for threats of calling the Police for trespassing, but they just stared at me, ran off, jumped in their car and drove quickly away. I was mostly worried that at some point the Mexican brick I had down my shorts would hit the ground....lucky break, it was still intact and only broke after it reached my home.

I still have the parts of the brick and the sweet smelling rose....it still has a slight perfumed scent to this day.

A couple hours later, we went to MM's place of interment and after a bit, we noticed a bench dedicated to MM and it had the same date on it as when we were there! It was the anniversary of her death and we had not even known it! How odd!