John Wayne Sings to Beach Druggies ***by Frank Hickey "I left my love a letter, In the hollow of a tree, I told her she could find me, In the U.S. Cavalry." Lusty baritone voices explode this song. The theme of "the Horse Soldiers" film stars John Wayne. The words make you gallop to charge the enemy. Tiny Belize in Central America slaughters its people. It reigns as one of world's worst murder spots. On a Belize beach, I avoid the murderous towns. Surfers, folk singers and marijuana genius prophets fill the cabanas. "Hey, dude," a smoking wastrel addresses me, smelling of weed. "Mister American. We doing some song numbers on the beach at sundown. Everyone sings. Okay?" I grin. Mother Hickey had acted on the Broadway stage and sang. "Show tunes?" I ask. "Whatever," he mumbles. "Show up, sure." All day, I wait for our pink sunset. A bony youngster slumps near the microphone. "Um, uh, yeah," he began. We beachies wait. "My first song, about my gal Muriel in Seattle," he mutters. "Dunno how many of ya been in Seattle." Nobody reacts to this choice data. "But, we, we, y'know, like we had something really special," he concludes. I guess so. Rule one of showbiz, I recall. Nobody wants to hear about your past love affairs. He lurches into something that sounds like a song. I can't be sure. Another mess follows, like Drano settling in a sink. The audience sits on their hands. Mother Hickey always said "Being inhibited wastes everybody's time." This looks like a job for Super Son. I hoist myself up through a cloud of marijuana and methamphetamine smell, seize the mike and blast out the Horse Soldiers song "I left my love a letter, In the hollow of a tree, I told her she could find me, In the L.A.P.D". The audience stares. Some sneer. But the show must go on. "Hi, ho! Up we go! We never lose our nerve, We'll ride right down to Hell and back, As we protect and serve!" "You was L.A. cop?" one teen asks. "Yup," I said truthfully. "But some called me cuckoo. Do I seem cuckooto you?". ***FrankHickey***at frankhickey.net. Frank was a cop. Somehow. He writes the Dancing Max Royster crime novels about the world's only ballroom dancing detective.