Read Online The End of the Dream by Ann Rule - Free Book Online

needed him to crew.
    Kevin accepted. He hoped that when he came back, things would have returned to normal. But a Pandora’s Box had been opened, and there was no way in the world to close it.
    Scott wasn’t at all deterred by Kevin’s shock and disappointment.
    He simply went ahead with his bumper crop of marijuana, reaping it when it was ready, rolling the leaves and preparing to sell it.
    It was his second foray into the world of drug dealing, only this time Scott was selling his own product. Perhaps because he had no real experience in the cultivation of marijuana, Scott Scurlock was clumsy.
    Bill Pfiel found out about the forbidden crop. It would be difficult not to notice that the gardens of L The Shire Plantation were full of growing things one day, and virtually decimated the next. When Pfiel and the owner of the tomato farm verified what was going on, they evicted Scott. By the time Kevin returned, Pfiel knew that he had had no part in growing the illegal plants, and Kevin was still in favor to a degree. But since Kevin had brought Scott to The Shire, he was now somehow tainted too. “They told me that I could move back in but everything had changed, “ Kevin Meyers said. “They wanted triple the rent and, for that, I could only rent the basement where I’d had my old art studio. Somebody else was moving in upstairs. It wouldn’t be The Shire any longer. That part of our lives was over.
    “ Scott left Hawaii to return to Virginia to sell the marijuana he’d grown. Kevin moved in with some friends, staying in Hawaii only long enough to finish one final mural commission. “It was all ending, “ Kevin recalled. “I had about $3,200 left, and I headed for Canada to live with Ron Jacksonone of the guys from the University of Hawaii track team. I didn’t know when I’d see Scott again if ever.” Kevin Meyers spent the next few years traveling between Edmonton, Alberta, where he ran youth hostels during the summer, and Virginia, where he spent winters. He didn’t see Scott Scurlock, although he heard that he’d gotten a job with the county back in Reston as a building inspector. That would be the kind of prestige job that Scott’s dad would approve of. Kevin wanted to live full-time in Virginia, if he could find some broken-down place that he could remodel into a studio.
    It had to be broken down because he knew he would never be able to afford anything in Fairfax County that was even faintly livable. For the moment, though, he had to make do with, somewhat ironically, an old pie truck. He fixed that up, lived in it, and sold it for $1,500.
    Then he bought a van from his old coach, Ed Zuraw. He saved his summer money, and fitted out his van as a studio. It doubled as his home.
    Kevin Meyers and his brother Steve shared similar talent and ambition, but Steve was way ahead of Kevin in terms of selling his work. Even with the good traits they shared, they also seemed to share a kind of family curse, when things looked bright, something always came along to cast a pall. Much to the amazement of the villagers in Carrara, Steve had renovated an old building in the Italian hamlet where he lived. He had rescued what seemed to be an unsalvageable structure and made it into a home and studio. He loved his studio, his family, and his career. It was 1982 when Steve’s steady climb to critical acclaim and fortune as a sculptor in Italy hit several broken steps. A propane explosion in a kiln destroyed his home, all of his works in progress and most of his personal possessions, along with irreplaceable works of art. It was a tremendous blow for Steve.
    He had wrenched something out of nothing, made it into a studio and home full of sunlight, only to have it disappear in one terrible moment.   Steve didn’t have the money or the heart to rebuild. While Maureen and their daughter waited in Italy, L Steve returned to America to try to find a way to sell art pieces on commission. He was welcomed into galleriesin