Carol Ohmart

            On Thursday morning I worked out the chords for the sixth and seventh verses of “Allons z'enfants” (Be All You Can Be) by Boris Vian and the second verse of “Ophélie” (Ophelia) by Serge Gainsbourg. 

            I weighed 87.6 kilos before breakfast. 

            Around midday I did some more sanding of my bathroom door. When I finish the door it will be the end of the sanding and then I need to wash the ceiling and walls to prepare to fill the cracks and holes. But I’ll put that part on hold until after my book launch because I have to start rehearsing for my performance. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and on the corner of Bloor and Dovercourt someone informed me that at Queens Park today they voted to remove the Bloor bike lane. He said he’s an independent journalist and wanted to interview me for his website and made a video of the interview with his phone. I said the bike lane is definitely safer. It seems ridiculous to spend the whole summer and millions of dollars to renovate the bike lane and put up fancy bicycle signals and then to spend millions more to remove it all. The city wants to keep the lanes and the province wants them gone. 

            On the way back I stopped at Freshco. I bought six bags of green grapes, three packs of raspberries, some bananas, a pack of five-year-old cheddar, and two packs of Full City Dark coffee. I did a price match on the grapes because the Food Basics price was less than half the Freshco price. 

            I weighed 87.05 kilos at 18:45. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 19:50. 

            I reviewed the song practice videos of my performances of “Comme un Boomerang” and “Like a Boomerang” from September 19 to 22. I played “Comme un boomerang” and “Like A Boomerang” on my Gibson Les Paul Studio electric guitar on September 19 and 20 respectively and in both cases my Gibson sounded horrible. The action was too low and it produced a rattling sound in addition to sounding out of tune. On September 21 and 22 I played “Comme un boomerang” and “Like a Boomerang” on my Martin acoustic guitar. In both cases they came out sounding okay.

            I had a potato with gravy and a slice of roast beef while watching season 2, episodes 29 and 30 of Branded. 

            The first story is part 2 of The Assassins. In the previous episode some masked assassins tried to kill President Grant but when McCord was fighting them off one of them dropped an ornate Spanish knife. McCord goes to test Swaney by showing him the knife. He reminds Swaney that he’d mentioned getting rid of Grant. McCord offers to get close enough to him to do that. Swaney punches McCord and says he doesn’t want Grant killed. McCord says he meant bribe him. So Swaney has just proved he’s not part of the assassination plot. McCord goes to see Senator Keith Ashley and Laurette Ashley tells McCord that he’s getting a fencing lesson from his house guest Dr. Cueverra. McCord shows Laurette the blade and she says it belongs to Keith. But she’s sure that Keith couldn’t be involved in an assassination plot. McCord thinks that Cueverra might be involved. President Grant says it wouldn’t make sense since Grant is supporting the revolutionary government that Cueverra represents in Cuba. That night Grant is having a party hosted by Laurette. McCord is escorting Cueverra’s sister Socorro. McCord goes to pick up Socorro and talks with Cueverra who says he is giving a fencing demonstration at the party. Suddenly McCord recognizes the wound on the hand of one of Cueverra’s men from the night of the assassination attempt. When McCord grabs the man’s hand Cueverra hits McCord from behind and knocks him out. Socorro sees McCord unconscious on the floor and is surprised to learn that Cueverra is an agent for the counter revolutionary movement that supports Spanish rule. She begins slapping her brother and so he has both her and McCord locked in the wine cellar. Cueverra plans on secretly assassinating Grant during the fencing demonstration. His sword is tipped with a slow acting poison that he will apply by nicking Grant “accidentally” during the demonstration. Socorro approaches the guard, struggles with him and is mortally wounded. McCord charges him and the gun goes off, killing the guard. Socorro also dies. McCord goes to the party but the guards won’t let him in without a costume. McCord sees Keith about to enter, takes him aside, apologizes, then knocks him out. He puts on Keith’s costume and enters the party. McCord jumps in and grabs Cueverra’s opponent’s sword, then he fences with Cueverra, and when he gets a chance, punches and knocks him out. 

            In the second story McCord arrives in a western town that is welcoming Horace Greeley on his tour of the west. Horace Greeley was the editor and publisher of the highly influential and liberal New York Tribune. He is travelling with his secretary Laureen Macklin and a photographer. After Greeley steps out of the coach and is greeted by the mayor, he wants a photo. McCord is on horseback and watching when he sees a man in the back pulling a gun and aiming it at Greeley. McCord shoots him before he can fire. The dead man is dressed as an Apache but he is white. Greeley summons McCord. He knows that McCord is the former Captain McCord who was accused of desertion. He reminds McCord of all the damning articles he wrote about him and tells McCord he has reason to assassinate him as well. Greeley has written extensively about the First Nations people being equal to white men. Greeley hires McCord as a body guard. His first job is to accompany him on the 13:00 stage coach to Doomsday Pass to smoke a peace pipe with the Apache for a photo opportunity. As 13:00 approaches McCord is having lunch when a man named Satterfield offers to hire him to run a cattle drive for a very large sum. McCord has already given his word to Greeley so he turns him down. But the encounter has caused McCord to be late to meet Greeley and so Greeley has missed the stage. But then they learn that the stage was attacked, apparently by Apache and everyone was killed. McCord goes to look for Satterfield because he suspects that he deliberately delayed him so he would miss the coach. When he confronts Satterfield he is met by Macklin who points a gun and holds him long enough for him to be knocked out. Later he comes to in captivity, fights three men as usual and wins. McCord heads for Doomsday Pass where Macklin already has an archer waiting to kill Greeley at the moment the camera flash goes off. McCord rides out there and when he meets Macklin he knocks her out before stopping the archer. 

            Macklin was played by Carol Ohmart, who was a baby contest winner and at the age of 3 was on the vaudeville stage in an act with her uncle. She sang on local radio and in dance bands and at the age of 19 won the title of Miss Utah. This led to a modelling career. She debuted and starred in The Scarlet Hour, She co-starred in The Wild Party, House on Haunted Hill, Spider Baby, and Wild Youth. She was the model for Copper Calhoun in the comic strip Steve Canyon. She had been called the female Marlon Brando.