Shy Exhibitionist 2
Peter considers himself lucky to have been born, since his father had been told that he "would never have children." Actually, Pat had three kids within a year, leading him to think that he had "won the baby race" with Paul Laxalt, Reagan's closest advisor, when Peter's father and Laxalt had businesses -- a movie theater and Laxalt's bar -- next door to each other. Laxalt eventually had more kids, and, as a matter of fact, Pat later married Reagan's niece -- who died of cancer shortly after.
Pat wasn't supposed capable of kids because of "swollen bowels" (whatever that means), a consequence after being thrown far beyond a stopped automobile while traveling to Stanford at about the age of 17. Main effect was a coma lasting some "193 days" -- over half a year anyway. When Pat came to, he shared "walking lessons" with a sister maybe two years old. He carried metal plates in his head until death.
Nona, Peter's mother, 5' 1/2" tall, hardly showed signs of pregnancy when Peter was born. She surprised everyone, herself included, when five minutes after Peter's delivery there came along a sister. Both escaped incubators in Oakland after three days when they took off that same day for Santa Cruz, California, where Peter currently dwells.
The first house he and Lynn rented -- after being thrown out of an apartment, because their son Sasha was about to be born -- turned out to be only six blocks from this 1939 location. "Talk about salmons!" Peter says. He thinks he might well be in Santa Cruz because of an early imprint (the crucial phase for ducks, for instance, also being some three days).
The day of Peter's birth was April 11, 1939. Peter once looked at New York Times microfilms from this period, eventually leading him to think he was "a war baby." On that day, Hitler held a news conference, declaring that he couldn't see how to keep France from starting a war. News appeared as well of the previous day's briefing from F.D.R. He said that if there were to be war in Europe, the U.S. would get into it.
Furthermore, Mussolini on that day invaded Piedmont in what's now called Italy, overthrowing its King Zog. Headlines had been light in the days before Peter's birth -- the one he most remembers having to do with that year's Easter parade. After Peter was born, they became dark indeed!
He was originally named George Leonard Sanford III. He lived the first years of life mainly on the main drag in Carson City. Grandfather was a lawyer much into timber, water and mineral rights. With his two brothers, he ran the Republican newspaper in Reno. Peter's grandmother -- also on his father's side -- provided a kind of counter-balance to efforts of this "Mr. Republican of Nevada," since she directed the Democratic daily across the street.
Even after all the psychedelics Peter has taken, he claims to recall little from his first six years of life. He remarked about this once, visiting his aunt near Carson City. She replied that wasn't all so surprising since his father had tried to strangle him at that time.
What he mainly remembers are hayrides, shimmering heat waves, summer trips to Lake Tahoe, and the need to get under a table or bed when the light would flash on some evenings. His father was a violent kind of drunk who apparently went too far one of these evenings.
Escape route for his mother was via Gervase (Jerry) Stafford -- involved in ditch-digging of some sort at the time, who impressed Peter particularly by an ability to drink a quart of milk each lunchtime.
